The Heart of the Demon
by A Headless Monk
Summary: femNaru Naruto was attacked when she was young and the seal loosed so the nine tails has been a big part of her life and greatly influenced her. How will things turn out if Naruto was a little crazy and a little blood thirsty? no Uchiha massacre. This is my first story so I hope you like it! rated M for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1 The Demon's Graduation

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 1**

**The Demon's Graduation**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

**Authors Note:**_ This is the first story I've ever written so bear with me. I am not going to describe what most characters look like because this is a Naruto fanfiction and I'm pretty sure everyone reading know what the characters look like so I will only describe the ones that are different. If for some reason you are reading this and don't know what the characters look like I would suggest looking them up the Naruto wiki is a good place to find pictures of them._

The streets of Konaha were bustling with busy civilians and shinobi alike all going about their business. Today while a normal day for most of Konaha's citizens was a special day for a certain class at the academy, it was graduation day and the students of the graduating class were sitting excitedly in their room waiting for their sensei to arrive to start the much anticipated graduation exam.

Naruto was among the graduating class and like all of them she was excited to start her shinobi career though that didn't stop her from trying to get some sleep while the teacher was away. She wore a dark red shirt that went just below her breasts and ended just after the shoulders, black arm bracers over her forearms, a dark red shinobi skirt, black shinobi sandals and mesh armor under the shirt and skirt leaving her stomach bare. She had long yellow hair that went down to her lower back and was tied into two pony tails leaving bangs that framed her face which had 3 whisker marks on each cheek.

Naruto sat in the back of the room with her head down trying to get some more sleep before Iruka arrived but it was rather hard with everything going on in the room. Sasuke sat by the window one row down from her looking at the sky cursing the two annoying girls screaming at each other to try and get the spot next to him. Naruto finally had enough of the two's fighting "Would you two please shut up! Some of us are trying to sleep!" she barely brought her head up to speak and put it back down immediately after finishing. Sakura and Ino froze after the outburst really not wanting to be on Naruto's bad side so when they saw the glare she was sending them they decided to try and get near Sasuke later and quietly went over to sit in the row across from him settling with staring dreamily at him. Sasuke smirked happy that Sakura and Ino were gone.

Shikamaru who was sitting next to Choji and Kiba in the row across from Naruto was also very happy that Sakura and Ino had finally shut up so he could go back to doing the same thing Naruto was trying to do and get some sleep before Iruka showed up. Sadly for both of them Iruka showed up less than a minute later and called for everyone's attention "Alright class quiet down it's time to start." Iruka looked over the class proud of every one of them finally stopping as he saw Naruto still trying to sleep in the back "Naruto! Wake up this is an important day so treat it like one! You too Shikamaru!" Naruto looked up and glared at him for a second before sitting all the way up and leaning back in her chair and Shikamaru just propped his head up in his hand.

"Alright then now that I have everyone's attention let's start. The graduation exam will consist of three parts, first a written exam that will start after I finish explaining. Second will be a test of your taijutsu skills and your skills with basic ninja tools like shuriken and kunai. Finally there will be a test on your ninjutsu skills. After all three parts of the exam have been gone over you will either be given a Hitai-ate indicating that you passed or you will not and you will have to spend another year at the academy before you can try again." Iruka looked over the class again none of them seemed phased by the explanation and none looked very worried about actually failing.

Iruka handed out the tests and after he was satisfied that everyone was ready he started the test "Begin!" the class started the test and quickly finished, as it turned out if you paid attention in class it made the test very easy. After getting the test back Iruka handed them off to the newly arrived Mizuki who took them to some other sensei to grade them before meeting the class outside. "Now is time for the taijutsu and ninja tool part of the exam so let's get out to the training ground.

After everyone was out at the training ground in the back of the academy the next part of the exam began. Iruka handed this part of the test over to Mizuki to explain "Alright each student will be given 10 shuriken and 10 kunai to show their skills with, I will call a name and that person will have 1 minute to use their ninja tools and try to get the best score possible." With that Mizuki began calling names. Since Naruto's surname started with U she knew she would be one of the last to go and so she went to lean against the academies wall. Sasuke saw her and went over with her to Sakura and Ino's dismay as they didn't want to go near Naruto.

Sasuke leaned against the wall next to Naruto and she opened her eyes and looked at him then over the two girls that constantly followed him. "Trying to get away from them again? I don't know why you don't just tell them to fuck off." Sasuke smirked "Well we can't all be as brash as you Naruto" "oh you just want to keep up the image of you clan" she grinned at him "you should really let loose sometimes it would do wonders for you, I honestly don't know how your clan can walk what with those giant polls stuck up their asses." Sasuke couldn't help but grin slightly at that, she was right that letting loose once in while might be good but it wouldn't look good for the clan if the clan heir went around telling people to 'fuck off' as she had so callously put it.

It wasn't long before their names were finally called and it was no surprise that both Sasuke and Naruto got perfect scores. They moved on to the taijutsu portion of the test and Mizuki again explained "I will call two name and those two will go into the sparing circle and spar to show off your taijutsu skills, you don't have to win to pass just do your best your scores will be evaluated by me and Iruka." Sasuke and Hinata were among the first to fight while Hinata was quite skilled with her clans gentle fist taijutsu style she didn't have the speed or power that Sasuke had and it was only about a minute before Sasuke knocked her out of the ring. Sasuke smirked at Naruto as he walked out of the circle as if to say 'beat that' and Naruto was eager to accept the challenge.

After a few more matches Naruto's name was called along with Kiba's they both gave each other feral looking grins as they went into the sparing circle. Naruto and Kiba's stances were similar as were their taijutsu styles. Kiba fought with the Inuzuka clan's feral looking taijutsu style while Naruto's style was also very feral looking it had a gracefulness to it akin to the gentle fist. Mizuki called for them to start and they both set off into a very aggressive taijutsu match. Kiba stuck first swiping with his claw like hands over and over only for Naruto to easily weave in and out of them and retaliate with swipes from her own claw like hands. After a few swings Naruto caught Kiba on the cheek breaking the skin and leaving a claw like mark on his face before she bent over backwards and delivered a solid kick to his gut and flipped to the edge of the arena grinning at him and using her finger to gesture for him to come get some. Kiba growled and complied charging at her with reckless abandon only for her to dodge his attack and swiftly bop him of the back of the neck sending him tumbling out of the arena. She smiled at him as he stood back up and realized what had just happened "Aw man every time! How are you so good!" Kiba whined at her "It's my little secret. Fun match though you always taste so good" she said as she licked the small amount of Kiba's blood off her index finger and walked back out of the circle. Kiba stared at her for second then smiled god she was so wiled! He loved it. Others in the class found it incredibly creepy that Naruto did thing like that but Kiba just thought it was hot.

After the taijutsu was finished they were brought back to the class room and one by one sent to be tested on their ninjutsu. Naruto sat in the back where she had before the tests outside with Sasuke sitting in front of her. Kiba went and sat next her pestering her again for a date "Oh come on just one date! After the test I'll take you to Ichiraku's." Naruto smiled at that "well maybe just one date but you have pay" she grinned at him and Sasuke quickly responded before Kiba had the chance "Naruto we're supposed to meet Itachi for lunch after this" he sent a glare at Kiba telling him to back off once again. "Right lunch with stoic brother" she sighed "can we at least eat at Ichiraku's" she smiled happily "I don't see why not." Sasuke answered with a smirk. Kiba's jaw dropped he almost had it and that damn Sasuke went and ruined it "Hey what about me!" he asked dejected "Oh yeah maybe some other time. I'm always happy to have people buy me ramen!" Sasuke wasn't too happy about that but at least he had won this time and then Kiba's name was called for the ninjutsu test before he could argue farther "fine, what about tomorrow?" "sure I'll see you then" Naruto answered happily "Kiba Inazuka last chance or you fail!" Kiba jumped at that and hurried to the instructor with Akamaru following from where he was sleeping on the table. Sasuke was not happy about the new lunch date Kiba was able to sneak in but he would figure out how to deal with that later.

Naruto was again the last one in class when her name was finally called for the ninjutsu test. She followed the instructor to the room where the third part of the exam would be held. She entered the room which had three instructors including Iruka and Mizuki the third wasn't one she recognized and then waited for them to tell her what to do with a grin on her face. Iruka was the one to speak "Alright Naruto first preform a Henge for us" "Sure thing!" she formed the seals and with a puff of smoke there was a perfect Henge of Iruka. "Very good now preform a substitution on one of those logs over there" he pointed to a pile of logs in the corner of the room "Aw well that's not very challenging" she pouted but complied. "Good now finally make as many clones as you can with clone jutsu." "That jutsu is useless I've got a better one!" and before any of the instructors could say anything Naruto put her hands in a cross seal "Shadow clone jutsu!" the whole room was filled with smoke and when it cleared there were over thirty Narutos stuffed into the small room "See mine is way better!" Iruka and the others were shocked they had no idea that Naruto or any academy student could possible make so many shadow clones, a jutsu that she shouldn't even know what was much less how to preform if. "Naruto how can you use shadow clones? Where did you learn the jutsu?" Iruka was the one who asked and Naruto just smiled and dispersed the clones "Now where is the fun in just telling you? It doesn't really matter any way does it? The point is I can do it!" Mizuki retorted this time "It does matter that is a forbidden jutsu! You must have stolen the scroll of the Yodaime!" Naruto scowled at him "fine if you must know Hokage-jiji taught me just go ask him." That shut Mizuki up, "At any rate it is very impressive Naruto" Iruka said and then looked to Mizuki and the other instructor who both nodded though Mizuki hardly looked happy about it. "Congratulations Naruto from this day on you are officially a genin of Konaha." Iruka said with a smile as he picked up a Hitai-ate and offed it to her. Naruto wore a triumphant smile as she took the Hitai-ate and walked out of the room.

Naruto left the academy and found Sasuke and Itachi waiting for her in the court yard she smiled at them and proudly showed off the Hitai-ate she had tied around her neck. "So they actually let _you_ pass" Sasuke said jokingly with a smirk "of course how could _not_ pass this face." Naruto said as she made the best puppy dog face she could before letting out a laugh. Itachi gave a small smile "congratulations Naruto you will be a fine addition to Konaha's shinobi ranks" "why thank you Itachi. Now to ICHIRAKU'S!" She shouted and started off towards her favorite restaurant Itachi deadpanned "again" he sighed as he looked to his little brother "what it was that or let Inuzuka take her I couldn't let that happen." Itachi shook his head as they went off after Naruto.

**Authors note:** _Thanks for reading_ _I hope you liked the first chapter! advice is always good so if you have some tell me._


	2. Chapter 2 The Demon's Team

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 2**

**The Demon's team**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

Naruto was ecstatic she was finally a ninja no more stupid academy to waste her time she could finally live the life she was always meant to live! To celebrate the occasion she had asked Hokage-jiji to commission some weapons that she designed and couldn't wait to use and she was on her way to pick them up now.

Naruto walked into the Hokage tower and went up to the Hokage's office waiting for permission to come in and after a minute of waiting she got what she was waiting for "Come in." Naruto opened the door and walked in, the Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up and smiled "Naruto how are you today?" "I'm great! Finally a ninja after such a long wait!" She was practically jumping up and down "Did they get here?! Are they ready?!" Hiruzen chuckled and pulled out a box from one of the drawers in his desk "Your just in time, they arrived here about an hour ago." He stood up and walked over to her with the box. Naruto's eyes lit up and she jumped at the old Hokage and gave him a big hug "Thank you jiji I never could have gotten them without your help!" the truth in the statement made Hiruzen sad, she should have been able to commission them herself but the prejudice against her for what she carried was something even he couldn't get rid of. He was brought out of his sad thoughts though as Naruto opened the box and found what she so desired.

Naruto opened the box and there they were the weapons she had dreamed of using since she was 8, she quickly put the box down on the table and removed her arm bracers to replace them with two thin clawed gauntlets made from chakra infusing metal. The gauntlets were as black as her bracers had been and had a thin heat absorbing layer of material on the inside to prevent her from burning herself when she used fire chakra. She couldn't help but jump up and down a little as she threw herself at Hiruzen again "Thank you Tank you Thank you!" Hiruzen laughed a little "Your very welcome my dear. Now that that's done how about we go get some lunch?" Naruto frowned a little at that "I would love to but I already promised Kiba I would have lunch with him today." Hiruzen gave a small smile "Alright then have fun." Naruto smiled and turned to leave "Thanks again see you later." As she was opening the door Hiruzen said one last thing as he was sitting down behind his desk "and Naruto don't lead him on too much." Naruto looked at him as she closed the door with a smile that said 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

Naruto walked down the main street of Konaha, receiving the usual hate filled glares she always did, with a smile on her face when she got to where she a Kiba were meeting and found him playing with Akamaru on the side of the street. "Kiba" she called to get the Inuzuka's attention. He looked over and waved to her "Hey you're here! I almost thought Sasuke was going find some way to get you to cancel." She smiled at him "well he did try." They started their walk to Ichiraku's making small talk on the way and Kiba couldn't help but notice all the glares she got. "What's wrong with these people!" the sudden outburst caught Naruto off guard "hu what?" he looked at her "Why are they all looking at you like that? It's infuriating!" he then turned his attention to glare at the people who were glaring at Naruto and they quickly looked away and backed off under the glare of the Inuzuka heir. Naruto looked at him "They're afraid of me." She paused for a moment "and they should be." She smiled and pressed forward at a faster pace.

The comment had stunned Kiba sure Naruto was strong but she was still only an academy student now a genin, why would so many people, even some shinobi if he had judged right, be afraid of her. "Hey wait up!" He ran to catch up "why are people afraid of you?" She frowned a little "Let's not get into that we have ramen to eat." She smiled as she walked into Ichiraku's; Kiba hadn't even noticed that they had arrived. Kiba had pressed a bit more on the subject but finally gave up when Naruto continued to avoid it and they discussed other things while they ate.

"So team assignments today, are you excited?" Kiba asked Naruto as she ate a surprising fifth bowl of ramen, he hadn't expected her to eat this much it was going to cost him a fortune he cried to himself on the inside. Naruto got an expression on her face that could only be described as giddy "Of course I am we're finally ninja! No more stupid sitting a class room learning theory all day, we finally get to have some action!" Kiba completely agreed "Yeah I know I can't wait to kick some ass after so long in the class room!" that went on for a couple minutes when Teuchi interrupted them "Naruto aren't you going to be late?" Naruto looked at the clock "oh shit your right! We have to go!" Naruto jumped out of her seat and almost ran right out of the restaurant but caught herself and gave a sweet smile to Kiba "Kiba would you please pay Teuchi." Kiba nodded and pulled out the required amount of money and almost cried as it emptied his wallet.

They started off towards the academy at a fast pace Kiba just behind Naruto when he noticed that she wasn't wearing her arm bracers any more but was instead wearing two clawed gauntlets "Cool! Where did you get those awesome gauntlets?" Naruto look back at him with a big smile "I designed them! Jiji had them made for me; I can't way to use them in actual combat!" Kiba went wide eyed "you deigned your own weapons? That's awesome! You're so cool!" Kiba did think it was awesome but he might as well overplay it a bit to get some brownie points. "I've been waiting for years to use these puppies and now that I'm finally a ninja I get to actually use them!" Naruto was so happy at this moment nothing could bring her down.

They arrived at the academy just in time and went to sit where she usually sat in back. Sasuke had been waiting for Naruto to arrive and when she did he was happy until he saw that she was with Kiba who he promptly scowled at as they walked toward him, Kiba responded by sticking out his tongue in a childlike manner. They sat down and Sasuke was quick to strike up conversation "You're late. Where were you?" Naruto gave him an innocent smile "me and Kiba were having lunch and we lost track of the time." Sasuke replied with a 'hn.' He noticed her new gauntlets long before Kiba had "Oh you finally got them? Thank god you have been obsessing over those things for way to long" he said with a smirk. Naruto simply smiled wide "Yeah they came in today! They're awesome aren't they? Well worth the obsession."

Iruka walked in and to his surprise the room immediately quieted without him having to tell them to. He took his place at the front of the room and looked over them "I'm so proud of each and every one of you, you have all earned the right to be called shinobi and I'm sure will all be assets to Konaha in the future. Be warned though the life of a shinobi is a hard life full of death and loss." He looked over the now gloomy class "But it is a life of honor, a life of servitude, servitude to our village. The life of a shinobi belongs to his or her village and as the generation before you have you will live and die to protect and support your village and its people for that is the way of the shinobi!" The class was now pumped and ready for anything to Iruka's delight his speech had worked.

"Alright then time to announce the rookie of the year and give team assignments. It should come with no surprise that this year's rookie of the year is Naruto Uzumaki!" There was some cheering mostly from the boys especially Kiba and Naruto gave a wide smile and leaned back in her chair letting the praise wash over her. Most the girls especially Sakura and Ino were upset thinking that Sasuke should have been rookie of the year and that Naruto must have cheated but they wouldn't go outright and say it lest they face Naruto's wrath. "Sasuke Uchiha was a close second losing by only a few points in taijutsu and ninjutsu." Naruto grinned at Sasuke when she heard that saying 'I won' but he didn't mind she was the only one he didn't mind losing to.

"Now team assignments Team one will consist of…" Naruto didn't really listen until her name was finally called "Team seven will consist of Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto's ears perked up and she started paying attention "Sakura Haruno," Naruto put her face on the table and mumbled something incoherent while Sakura cursed her luck "and Sasuke Uchiha" Naruto smiled a little at that at least she was on a team with Sasuke even if his biggest 'fan girl' was on the same team. Sakura almost shot to the roof and yelled "in your face Ino pig!" at Ino who scowled at her. Sasuke had conflicting emotions he got to be with Naruto but he also had to deal with Sakura it was going to be tough but as he heard the loud groan from Kiba who was still sitting next to Naruto he decided he liked the team. "Team seven's jonin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." Iruka read through the rest of the names bid them farewell while they waited for their jonin sensei to show up.

Naruto's mood had drastically changed she had previously it would be impossible to get her down today but after three hours of waiting and watching every other jonin sensei come pick up their students Naruto was fuming. Sasuke wasn't much better constantly mumbling about how late Kakashi was all Naruto could do to entertain herself was to scare the crap out of Sakura every now and then which had put her into a sorely bad mood. All in all it was not a great start as a team and if Kakashi ever showed up Naruto had a bone to pick with him. Kakashi finally walked into the room reading his orange icha-icha book and simply said "Team seven? Meet on the roof now" and shunshined up to the meeting spot.

Naruto none too happy with how Kakashi came in after being three hours late said seven words and disappeared quickly followed with her own shunshin to the roof surprising Sakura, Sasuke simply shunshined up as well making Sakura feel sorely out place amongst the team of prodigies. Kakashi hadn't expected but wasn't really surprised by Naruto's and Sasuke's ability to shunshin, after all he had read their files. Naruto immediately started yelling at him for being so late "What is wrong with you! Every other sensei was on time but you! Oh god of course we had to be placed with the infamous Kakashi Hatake known for being late to EVERYTHING!" Kakashi simply smiled under his mask "it's nice to meet you to" and went right back to reading his book. Naruto didn't know what to say so she simply growled lowly at him and went to sit by the equally livid but much more composed Sasuke as they waited for Sakura to make her way up. Sakura soon came through the door on the roof and took a seat on the other side of Sasuke.

Kakashi looked up "good now that everybody is here we can start" low mumbles and insults came from the genin but he ignored them. "Alright introduce yourselves." They all stared at him until Sakura finally asked "sensei what are we supposed to say? Can't you give us an example?" Kakashi deadpanned "I assumed you guys were smart enough to know how introduce yourselves but alright. My name is Kakashi Hatake I don't feel like telling you my like and dislikes as for my aspirations for the future… I have a few hobbies." It was now their turn to deadpan at him "Now you pinky" he pointed to Sakura "My name is Sakura Haruno I like" she looked at Sasuke and giggled "I dislike" she looked at Naruto but decided against saying it out loud "my aspirations for the future" again she looked at Sasuke and giggle causing him and Naruto to shake their heads. Kakashi stared at her for a moment "now you emo" he said as he pointed at Sasuke who clearly didn't like being called 'emo' "My name is Sasuke Uchiha I like training and spending time with my friends I dislike fan girls" he shot a glance at Sakura "people being late" he glared at Kakashi "and people who treat my friends or family badly. I want to be a great shinobi for my village and a great clan head for my clan if my brother ever steps down." Kakashi nodded satisfied and pointed to Naruto "your turn whiskers" Naruto ignored the comment back to being excited "My name is Naruto Uzumaki I like hanging out with my friends, training, ramen, and of course Kurama I dislike not having something to do and people who like to hurt me or my friends as for what I want to do I want nothing more than to help Kurama achieve his goals!"

That caught every ones attention "Who is Kurama?" Kakashi asked genuinely curious he had been watching her for all her life and never know anyone named Kurama to have ever been in contact with her. "Kurama is the one who took care of me, he protected me and trained me, without him I would probably be dead and I certainly wouldn't be the person I am today." Kakashi hid his emotion completely but was taken aback by this information how could someone have been protecting and training Naruto without him knowing? "And what are Kurama's goals?" "He doesn't want me to say." Naruto seemed to think there was nothing strange about this at all but to the rest of them she was starting to sound crazy "why doesn't he want you to say?" "I don't know or care if he doesn't want me to say I won't" they all stared at her for a moment before Kakashi decided to move on he would speak to the Hokage about this later. "Alright then" he went back to his book "meet at training ground seven at seven o'clock tomorrow morning. Oh and don't eat breakfast or you'll puke" he said with a smile before he again shunshined away.

Sasuke was a little upset that there was apparently this person in Naruto's life that was so important to her that she had dedicated her life to fulfilling his goals and she had never even bothered to introduce him, her closest friend, to him. Sasuke wasn't usually one to pry but he couldn't not pry at this. He and Naruto quickly jumped off the roof and started walking away leaving Sakura on the roof to go through the building. "So who is this Kurama? And why after years of friendship haven't you introduced me to him?" Naruto sighed "I already told you who he is, and I haven't introduced you because he told me not to and that is the end of it." She looked sternly at him, something she almost never did, "don't pry at this Sasuke, not this." Sasuke wasn't happy about it but he decided to do as she wished especially after that look. "So you want to come over for dinner tonight? Itachi is always happy to see you." Naruto smiled happy he had decided to let it go "sure."

Kakashi knocked on the Hokage's door "Come in" came the voice of the Hokage from the other side of the door. Kakashi entered and bowed to Hiruzen "lord Hokage" "Kakashi. What is it that you need?" "I want to talk about Naruto she said something when she introduced herself today that I think you should hear." Hiruzen frowned one day and she had already said something that warranted Kakashi coming to him "alright what is it?" Kakashi shifted on his feet "She kept talking about someone named Kurama saying that he had protected and trained her that he had saved her life. She said that her goal in life was to help him achieve his." Hiruzen was shocked by this he was basically a grandfather to her and he had never met any Kurama, and that Naruto would say her goals were to help this Kurama achieve his that was not something that sounded like Naruto and it gave Hiruzen a great since of dread. Kakashi waited a moment for an answer "is this something you know about lord Hokage?" Hiruzen brought out of his thoughts from Kakashi's comment looked to him "no it is not I have no idea who this Kurama is or where he came from. Keep an eye on Naruto and try to find out as much as you can about this Kurama." Kakashi nodded "yes lord Hokage" he bowed and left the room leaving Hiruzen along to ponder who this mysterious man that was apparently a large part of the life of the girl he considered a granddaughter.

**Authors Note:** _Is just more or do these look really blocky? I feel like it's just a bunch of big blocks of text does anyone have any suggestions to make it look less intimidating?_


	3. Chapter 3 The Birth of the Demon

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 3**

**The Birth of the Demon**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

Naruto got up just before six the next day and decided to completely ignore Kakashi's warning not to eat breakfast and instead eat a rather large breakfast consisting of some scrambled eggs some toast and a large grape fruit with some orange juice. She ate if fast and got ready so she could get to the training ground by seven though she was pretty sure that Kakashi probably wouldn't be there till sometime closer to ten but she could get some training in while she waited. She left her house in the less than desirable part of town to make her way to the training ground she was sure Sasuke and probably Sakura were already there. It was early and not many people were out on the streets, Naruto liked this time of day the sun just coming over the horizon the warmth of a new day just starting, it was invigorating. She decided not to hurry and enjoy the beautiful morning walking down the empty streets of Konaha.

Naruto arrived closer to seven twenty than seven but as she thought Kakashi was nowhere to be found. Though there was a very annoyed Sasuke sitting on one of the three large posts in the center of the ground. Sakura was standing next to the post Sasuke was sitting on talking to no end despite never getting a response but she noticed when he suddenly perked up and jumped off the post, she looked over to see what caused him to move only to see Naruto. Sasuke walked straight at Naruto with an annoyed expression "Where have you been? Kakashi said to be here at seven do you know what I've had to deal with alone with her!" Sakura felt very dejected by the comment and it clearly showed on her face. Naruto felt slightly bad for the girl but not enough to do anything about it. "I decided to enjoy the morning, I mean come on after how late he was yesterday did you honestly expect Kakashi to be here at seven? And I bet you didn't eat breakfast either." Sasuke smirked "Of course I ate breakfast like I would fall for that show he put on." Naruto looked at Sakura who from the look on her face clearly hadn't eaten "and you know how I feel about being late even though I knew he would be." "Of course" Naruto said before looking back to Sakura "you know if you want you could probably still go get something to eat and get back before he shows." Sakura glared at her "You're just trying to get me in trouble I'm not going to listen to you." Naruto shrugged "suite yourself" she then walked over to the posts with Sasuke following close behind.

Naruto started to do some basic taijutsu training on the center post and Sasuke followed her lead on the post to the right while Sakura decided to just stand near Sasuke and try to talk to him. Not long after starting Naruto decided to finally try out her new gauntlets she pushed her chakra through the gauntlets and converted it to fire nature seconds later bother her gauntlets burst into flames. The sudden occurrence scared Sakura half to death getting both Naruto and Sasuke to laugh. "What the hell your hands are on fire!" Naruto kept laughing "Yeah they are" she waved her hands around in front of Sakura. Naruto then turned and slashed her hands in an x in front of her while expelling the chakra outward sending a flaming x out from her body crashing into a tree with a small explosion that turned the tree into a smoldering mess "Hell yes they work great!" Sakura just glared at the cheering girl with burning hands when she noticed something on her stomach, an intricate pattern around a swirl that ended at her belly button. "What is that?" Sakura said pointing at the seal. Naruto looked to her stomach "That is my tattoo don't you like it?" she grinned at the pinkette who scowled at her "well where was it before this is the first time I've ever seen it." "Maybe you should be more observant then because it's always been there" Naruto taunted. Sakura was at the end of her very small amount of patients with Naruto "What kind of terrible parents let their 13 year old get a tattoo" Naruto's attitude quickly changed "the kind that are dead" she said in a menacing tone but Sakura had gone too far to stop now "What did you kill them? I wouldn't doubt it." "You wouldn't doubt it hu well how about I kill you and show you how willing to kill I am" Naruto was furious at this pink haired bitch how dare she talk about her parents. Sasuke was pissed at Sakura for saying such things to Naruto but he knew that he had to focus on calming Naruto down before she killed Sakura. Naruto's eyes turned red and became silted and so much killer intent radiated off her Sakura actually fell over and Sasuke was stunned for a moment before jumping between the two. "Naruto! Stop! Even if she does deserve it you can't go killing fellow Konaha shinobi!" Naruto knew he was right and gave one last glare at Sakura before taking some deep breaths to calm down. After Naruto seemed to calm down Sakura stumbled back to her feet "The adults are right you are a demon." Naruto looked at her and to Sakura's surprise grinned "Yeah I am."

_Flash Back_

A six year old Naruto ran frantically down an alley way quickly taking a right and then a left into another alley. She ran down the alley only to find it was a dead end, she turned around to try and run back out and find a different alley but it was too late. A mob of people came around the corner some carrying torches others various types of weapons. Naruto started crying and desperately looking for some place to run she found a small hole between two buildings and tried to shimmy though it. She thought she was actually going to get away when she felt a hand wrap around her leg "Ahhh! Let go let go!" she tried to kick it off "You're not getting away this time you demon bitch!" the man holding her leg yelled as he violently pulled her out of the hole. She came out kicking and screaming her messy hair flailing about everywhere as the man wrapped her tightly in his arms before throwing her hard into the opposite wall. She hit hard her head cracking on the cold concrete. She cried and tried to craw away when she felt searing pain on her back as someone shoved a torch onto it "AHHHHHHHHH!" then someone kicked her in the head making her vision go blurry and causing her head to swim. Naruto started to get her bearings back and looked up at the crowd "Why are you doing this? Why do you hate me so much?" "Shut up you murdering piece of shit" it came from a kid that couldn't be older than 16 just before he kicked her hard in the stomach. Naruto curled into a ball while the mob viciously beat her.

She had been beaten before but this was different they were really going to kill her this time. She didn't know what to do she was panicking as blow after blow came down on her until it suddenly stopped and after a few seconds she dared to look up. She soon regretted the decision as the man that had dragged her out of the hole wrapped his hand around her neck and pinned her to the wall. "Give me that knife" he told the boy who had replied to her before, he seemed conflicted now like he wasn't sure this was right. The man looked at him "have you forgotten what she did? She killed you mother! She's the reason you've grown up without a mother!" Naruto was confused how could she be the reason this boy didn't have a mother he was at least a decade older than her! The boy finally decided to hand the knife over to the man and Naruto's eyes widened as she realized that this was it, they were going to kill her and there was nothing she could do about it. The man brought the knife up and whispered "now die you demon whore" to her right before he repeatedly stabbed her in the stomach. She tried to escape but couldn't she felt the strength being sapped right out of her and he stabbed her again she had lost count at this point was it eight? Nine? Stabs they just kept coming, the pain was more than she could handle, her world started turning black and she knew that this was the end this was what death was like. Suddenly her world went from black to red as she heard a booming voice **"Not yet, I will not you die like this."**

Naruto woke up in what looked like a sewer scared and confused "Where am I?" she got up and carefully walked down the hallways towards what she didn't know, but it was as if it was calling to her. She stopped when she got to a large barred door with a big piece of paper that had the kanji for seal on it. She didn't know how but she knew there was something inside, something close. "Hello?" after a few minutes she approached the bars and right about when she got to them Kurama decided to show himself, first just his eyes then his whole giant form. Naruto looked at him with wide eyes **"Child"** Kurama stated simply as they looked at each other. After a while of silence Naruto asked "are you the one who saved me?" Kurama kept staring at her before finally replying **"yes, I saved you"** and then Naruto did something that truly surprised the mighty beast, she ran though the bars and hugged his giant paw. Kurama stared at her for a second before sighing deciding that he would protect this girl, for better or worse they were stuck with each other and even the massive beast knew it was wrong the way the villagers treated her.

Naruto woke again this time in the real world she was laying on her back looking at the sky. The first thing she noticed was the smell it smelled awful, then she saw it, it was everywhere, blood. She sat up and all around her were bodies, the bodies of the mod that had attacked her. Their throats had been torn out and their stomachs ripped open she threw up from the sight and saw her hands. They were covered in blood, _she_ was covered in blood she backed into the corner and started hyperventilating. Not long after the Hokage and group of ANBU arrived at the scene, it was a massacre. They looked over the bodies there were at least a dozen of them all viciously torn apart and there was the girl in the corner of the alley completely catatonic and covered in blood. "Clean up these bodies and get me the one who was supposed to be protecting her!" Hiruzen shouted as he walked over and picked up Naruto who seemed to come out of it when she was touched. "AHHHH no! let me go don't hurt me anymore!" She tried to pull away "Shhh child I'm not going to hurt you" he pulled her into hug and Naruto, now realizing she was safe, started to cry uncontrollably. Hiruzen carried the girl out of the alley as the ANBU brought forward the one that had been stationed to guard her. Hiruzen looked angrily at the man who had let this happen "send him to the dungeon" They quickly did as they were told. Naruto cried herself to sleep there in Hiruzen's arms.

Naruto woke some time later in the hospital she was alone and it wasn't long before she remembered what had happened. She almost started to hyperventilate again as she remembered all the blood **"Calm child, you are safe now"** she looked around startled by the sudden voice before she realized it came from inside her head, from the one that had saved her. **"You don't have to worry. You're not alone anymore. I will always be with you, to protect you." **Naruto calmed down "who are you?" she asked out loud **"you can call me Kurama."**

_Flash Back End_

Sakura was taken aback by Naruto calling herself a demon what was wrong with this girl? Kakashi arrived not long after, long before he had intended to, after feeling the killing intent he decided that he should probably get there before someone actually died. He had planned on staying in the nearby trees reading his book for another couple of hours but that was ruined now, oh well he would just have to deal with it. Kakashi walked into the training ground with his book glancing up at his team who now turned the glares they were previously giving each other onto him. "Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the road of life" he said with a smile as he snapped his book closed.


	4. Chapter 4 The Demon's Test

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 4**

**The Demon's test**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

Team seven glared at their sensei 'got lost on the road of life?' what a stupid excuse! How could this man be the feared Kakashi Hatake famed copy ninja of Konaha? Kakashi just ignored the looks and walked over to the posts motioning for them to follow. He leaned against the middle post, noting the smoldering mess of a tree at the edge of the clearing, and his team came and stood in front of him with Naruto standing as far away from Sakura as she could. Kakashi internally sighed this wasn't looking good for their team work; it only took an hour for them to be at each other's throats.

"Alright then, today you will have a test. This test will determine whether or not you actually become genin or are sent back to the academy." They all looked stunned by this "but I thought we already became genin after the graduation test? What was that even for then?" Sakura asked clearly confused by his statement. "That was just to weed out the hopeless cases. This is the real test, and there is a %66 failure rate." Again they all looked stunned for a few seconds before Naruto suddenly cheered loudly and pumped her fist in the air "Hell yes now we can drop pinky and get on with our lives!" Yes this was really not looking well for their team work.

"Okay, moving on. The object of this test is to get these" Kakashi pulled out two bells on strings "away from me before lunch" he pulled out a timer and set it. "But there are only two bells?" "Very observant Sakura, as I said %66 failure rate." He smiled an innocent smile before saying "begin" and disappearing in a swirl of leaves. The genin looked around "wait we have to find him too?" Sakura asked and Naruto just scoffed "Yeah it's oh so surprising that we have to show are ability to find enemy ninja in a test." Naruto said as she walked off towards the edge of the clearing with Sasuke close behind and a very annoyed Sakura behind him.

Naruto stopped, clearly seeing that she wasn't going to just be able to walk away without Sakura coming along with them. Naruto sighed "alright lets come up with a plan" she said as she turned around to look at her team mates. They discussed possible courses of action before deciding on one. "Alright then here we go" Naruto said as she started to perform hand seals "summoning jutsu!" she said as she planted her and on the ground and with a puff of smoke a little fox was sitting in front of them. "Hey Naruto whatcha need?" the little fox said in a high pitched voice, startling Sakura who was unaware summon animals could talk. "Hey Kit, I need you find someone for me." Naruto said with a grin.

Kakashi was sitting in a tree reading his Icha-Icha book, waiting for his students to find him when he sensed something watching him. He looked up from his book and there was a little red fox sitting on the branch in front of him just staring at him. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow and suddenly the fox disappeared with a poof. His eyes widened for just a second before he jumped away from where he was sitting as Naruot shot out of a tree and tore where he as just sitting to pieces with her claws. He noticed that they were pulsating with wind chakra 'hm so she already knows how to use elemental chakra this might actually be interesting' he thought as he put his book away.

Naruto jumped at Kakashi again and again pulverizing where he was standing less than a second before over and over. Kakashi was impressed with her speed, she was forcing him somewhere, he might as well see what they had planned. They continued their game until Kakashi felt himself trip a wire and dozens of kunai and shuriken came flying at the two. Kakashi quickly substituted away while Naruto smirked and jumped away making hand seals "wind style: great breakthrough" she yelled shooting it right at where Kakashi was after the substitution. "earth style: mud wall" Kakashi blocked the jutsu but at the same time he felt chakra being formed behind him and could sense shuriken coming from above him. "Fire style: great fireball jutsu" Sasuke shouted from behind Kakashi sending the jutsu at his exposed back while Sakura threw shuriken from above him. Kakashi dove out of the way of the shuriken while making hand seals "water style: water wall" a wall of water shot in front of Sasuke's fireball effectively dousing it.

Kakashi landed in a small clearing, so far he was very impressed with their teamwork, even Sakura was actively helping. After only a moment Sakura and Sasuke landed behind him while two Narutos landed in front of him. Both Narutos started to go through hand seals "wind style: great breakthrough" "fire style: fireball jutsu" they shouted in unison combing the two jutsu into massive fireball heading straight for him. Kakashi was stunned only for a second 'being able to use two types of elemental jutsu at her age is quite impressive' he jumped above it knowing trying to counter it would be a waste of chakra. Sasuke quickly followed him jumping above the massive combination jutsu and engaging Kakashi in some mid-air taijutsu. While Kakashi was busy with Sasuke, Sakura jumped up behind him grabbing at the bells. Kakashi's eyes widened as he spun and kicked Sakura away sending her flying toward the ground. One of the Naruto's jumped in the way of Sakura absorbing most of the force to keep Sakura from getting too hurt. The Naruto puffed away after they crashed into the ground and soon after Sakura stood up with a huge smile on her face. Kakashi saw and looked down only to see the bells were gone and when he looked back up Sakura had them in her outstretched hand.

The genin cheered as they saw their plan had actually succeeded. Kakashi hadn't expected them to be able to do it, he had held back a lot, but still it was impressive, now just one more test. "Very good, now who are going to give the other bell too?" Kakashi asked with a serious face and the three genin immediately stopped cheering as they realized their situation. Naruto and Sasuke looked at Sakura, Naruto was worried, she and Sakura didn't really get along and she knew how Sakura felt about Sasuke, the odds of her getting one of the bells didn't seem good. Sakura clutched the bells and held a solemn expression before looking at the ground. After about a minute of them all staring at her Sakura finally sighed and looked at them with watery eyes, "You two should have them. You guys did most of the work you're the ones who really deserve to become genin." That really surprised Naruto and earned Sakura a lot of respect from her, they had done most of the work, but it didn't seem right, they all worked hard for this they all should become genin. Naruto sighed and then looked at Kakashi "We all worked for this! We either all pass or we all fail!" this was met with nod from Sasuke and stunned look from Sakura. Kakashi looked between them and after a few seconds smiled "you pass." There was just one moment of silence before Naruto jumped up "Hell yes!" she yelled as she charged at Sasuke and tackled him into a hug "We finally did it! We're ninja!" Sasuke accepted the hug with a slight blush before Naruto pecked him on the lips and jumped off leaving Sasuke stunned and bright red on the ground "let's get Ichiraku's to celebrate!" she didn't wait for an answer and she shot out of the training ground leaving a smiling Kakashi a blushing Sasuke and a very angry beat red Sakura.

Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage in his office "Well how did it go?" Hiruzen asked Kakashi with a small smile. "They passed." Kakashi said with his own smile "all in all they were very impressive, they worked as team quite well, even with the tension between Naruto and Sakura. They even managed to actually get the bells from me." Hiruzen chuckled at that "I wouldn't expect anything less from Naruto" Kakashi nodded "she was quite impressive, already having control over two elemental types at her age is no easy feat." Hiruzen smiled proudly "yes I thought that might surprise you." Kakashi then frowned slightly "did you know she can summon?" Hiruzen was surprised by the information, where did Naruto get a summoning contract? "She can? What can she summon?" Kakashi waited for a second before answering "foxes." This revelation brought a myriad of questions to Hiruzen's mind and he was sure Kakashi was thinking of just as many. "Did she tell you where she learned it?" Kakashi shook his head "I didn't get the chance to ask, but I think it is safe to say it was probably this Kurama who taught her." Hiruzen had the same suspicion and it worried him, there hadn't been a fox summoner for a very long time, how could this Kurama make Naruto a fox summoner? Who was he and where did he come from? It all had him very worried for her.


	5. Chapter 5 The Demon's Mission

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 5**

**The Demon's Mission**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

Naruto was seriously annoyed, what did she have to do for some damn action! She had thought that once she was a ninja she would finally get some but after over a month of horrible boring D-rank missions she was about to explode. Team seven was reporting to the Hokage yet again after successfully catching the perpetually lost Tora yet again. After the stupid cat had been given back to the Daimyo's wife and the mission had been paid for Naruto decided enough was enough. "Alright team seven good job with another successful mission" the Hokage said with a smile "now we have several D-rank missions for you to choose from, you could-" he was interrupted by a loud groan from Naruto "Come on jiji! These are boring! Give us something interesting already!" Hiruzen while less than happy about the outburst and the lack of formality Naruto showed but did have to admit they were ready for a C-rank. "Alright Naruto if your team thinks they are ready, I am prepared to offer you a C-rank" Naruto pumped here fist and looked at the rest of the others with puppy dog eyes. Sasuke not one to disappoint Naruto, and also sick of the D-ranks, was eager to agree "I'm ready if you are" he said with a smirk. Sakura was less sure, she had improved a lot since becoming part of team seven but a C-rank already? She wasn't sure if she was ready but finally gave in and agreed after seeing not only Naruto's puppy dog eyes but the almost pleading look in Sasuke's "yeah I'm ready." Kakashi gave a small smile "well who am I to argue with my team? If they say they're ready I'm inclined to agree."

Hiruzen, satisfied with their responses pulled out a scroll "Alright Kakashi here are the mission details" he handed Kakashi the scroll "send Tazuna in" he called out to the secretary. A few seconds later an old man with a big straw hat and a bottle of sake walked into the room "This is the team? They're just kids, how are they supposed to protect me? Especially the little blond one." Naruto smirked at the statement she couldn't wait to show him how capable she was. "Naruto here is one of the best genin in Konaha; she is more than capable of protecting you." Kakashi assured Tazuna. Tazuna grunted "well she better be" before taking a big swig of sake. "Be ready at the main gate tomorrow at eight" Hiruzen said and after Kakashi nodded he dismissed them.

Sasuke walked into his home and it wasn't long before he was greeted by Itachi "welcome home Sasuke, did you have a good day?" he said it with a small smile. "It was good, we had to catch that stupid cat again but afterword's we finally got our first C-rank!" Itachi didn't know if Sasuke and his team were ready for a C-rank yet but trusted the Hokage's judgment so let it go. "Well that is nice. What is the mission?" "It's just some escort mission to the land of waves but it's out of the village, and you should have seen Naruto when the Hokage agreed to let us do the mission, I don't think I've ever seen her so happy!" he said with a laugh. Itachi chucked with his little brother "well be careful, it's dangerous outside of the village." Sasuke smiled at his slightly over protective older brother "Of course we will Itachi but it's just a C-rank so we probably won't see anything more than some bandits."

Naruto was so excited about her mission should could barely sleep she was almost bouncing around her apartment thinking of the possibilities **"Naruto, I know you're excited but rest now. Tomorrow will soon come and then we can finally start."** Naruto calmed down with that '_you're right Kurama, I'm just so excited! But I will try to get some sleep._'

Naruto got to the gate early eager to finally start the mission; in hindsight maybe she was little too early arriving at about seven. She didn't even see Sasuke till about seven forty-five, "You sure are here early Naruto" Sasuke commented as he walked up to her "how could I not be! How did you not get here till now? Aren't you excited? We're finally going to see some action!" Sasuke just shook his head at her with a smirk on his face. It wasn't long after the rest of the team showed up along with Tazuna and they were ready to go. "Right! Let's go!" Naruto set off with Sasuke and Sakura following close behind with Tazuna and Kakashi in back "She's a hyper one isn't she" Tazuna commented to Kakashi as they set off "yeah she is very, active." Kakashi replied.

After hours of walking with no action Naruto was a little disheartened but was still keeping hope that they would be attacked any minute. To Naruto's delight not long after she sensed as two chakra signatures appeared behind them. Two foreign ninja in gray attire and masks jumped out of a puddle, they had gauntlets connected by a shuriken chain which they used to quickly wrap around and shred Kakashi to bits. Sakura screamed at the sight of her sensei being torn apart and froze up near Tazuna. Naruto looked at the two ninja after they had shown themselves and got a huge grin as her eyes turned red and her canines grew. Sasuke was quick to action using a shuriken to pin the chain to a tree followed by kunai to lock it into place. The ninja were clearly surprised by Sasuke's ability almost so surprised they didn't see Naruto come at them. Naruto charged with a burst of speed going right for the one on the left, with his hand pinned via the chain it was easy for Naruto to avoid his attack as she got within striking range. She ducked under his swipe before using her own gauntlet enhanced with wind chakra to tear out his left knee. The ninja let out a loud wail from the pain before Naruto jumped onto him knocking him to the ground with her sitting on top of him. As he looked into her eyes he was terrified by them, they were the eyes of a demon and the grin on her face only added to the terror as she viciously started to tear his chest open. Naruto sat on top of the ninja and ripped through his chest cavity like it was butter under a hot knife wearing a large smile the whole time relishing the blood as it spewed out of the now dead man and covered her in its warm embrace. The world seem to melt around her, she was in utter bliss. It ended almost as soon as it began as she was brought back into the real world by Kakashi who grabbed her around her stomach and pulled her off the now mutilated corpse. She flailed under his grasp for a second before she looked up into his one uncovered eye and she composed herself. Kakashi could have sworn her eyes were red for a second but they were back to their regular blue so fast he didn't know if he had imagined it or not.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled as he pulled her off the dead ninja and threw her away from him. Naruto landed gracefully and looked at him with and innocent smile, a disturbing site as she was absolutely drenched in blood and gore from head to toe. "What the hell was that?!" Kakashi scolded the bloody blonde "What? It looked like they had killed you. I was simply doing the mission and protecting Tazuna." "That was way more than 'doing the mission' you didn't need to kill him! Much less tear him apart!" Naruto scowled at him "I did what I thought I had to too ensure the mission was a success!" "No you could have easily incapacitated him without killing him, this mission is over were going back and reporting to the Hokage right now" Kakashi was surprised when Tazuna interjected "NO! you can't leave now I'll die!" Kakashi turned to him with an angry look "You don't get a say! You paid for C-rank mission, the fact that there are ninja after you automatically makes this at least a B-rank mission. You lied to the Hokage because you were too cheap to pay for a higher rank mission and look what happened!" he gestured over the bloody scene. Tazuna hung his head "I didn't lie to be cheap. I come from a poor country and we couldn't afford anything higher than a C-rank! Please don't leave, if you do I will certainly die and the people of my country will continue to suffer! If not for me than please for them, we need your help!" Tazuna pleaded and Naruto quickly voiced her opinion "How can we leave after that?! You heard him, people are suffering how can we just let them if there is something we can do about it!" the sentiment was less effective than it might have been if she hadn't been covered in blood. Kakashi looked to his other students, Sasuke came out of his shock and nodded agreeing that they should continue. Sakura clearly wasn't sure about this after what just happened but eventually agreed with Sasuke. Kakashi sighed "fine but this will be reported to the Hokage" it was directed at Naruto. He then turned and grabbed the remaining ninja that Sasuke had knocked out "clean yourself up Naruto I'm going to see if I can get any information out him." Kakashi dragged the unconscious ninja into the forest off the side of the road.

Naruto looked over to her team mates Sasuke seemed conflicted over what had happened, looking at her like he didn't know her while Sakura looked outright disgusted. Naruto didn't like seeing Sasuke look at her like that, it made her feel bad like there was something eating at her insides, he had never looked at her like that before. **"You did good Naruto. I'm proud of you, this was good first step."** Her previous thoughts were pushed out of her mind as she was filled with joy from Kurama's praise. She walked over into the woods to wash up as she was told licking the delicious blood off her lips before doing so.


	6. Chapter 6 Demon vs Demon

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 6**

**Demon vs Demon**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

Team seven walked down the road in relative silence, after Kakashi and Naruto had returned they had set off again toward the land of waves, that had been almost three hours ago and almost no words had been spoken; they all just walked in an uncomfortable silence. Sasuke had been having a mental battle with himself, he knew Naruto, they had been best friends for years and he had never seen her act like that it didn't seem to fit. The more he thought about it though, while a great friend, Naruto was maybe a little unstable. Sasuke had noticed things in the past that, now that he was thinking about them did seem to suggest she might be a little crazy, the way she always likes to taste the blood of an opponent, even if it's just a little, like when she fought Kiba at graduation, or the way she was always so eager to fight. The more Sasuke thought about it the more it really seemed like Naruto to do what she did, and he was an enemy, he would have killed them just as gladly as Naruto had killed him. So while he was maybe not happy that the girl he loved could kill with a smile, he wasn't going to shun her for it, maybe they could work on it later, after all he was going to marry her… eventually.

They arrived at a small dock at the edge of the land of fire "Well here we are, this boat will take us to the land of waves" Tazuna said as he boarded what could hardly even be called a boat. Team seven followed Tazuna onto the small row boat and soon after they boarded the man that had been waiting on the boat pushed them off to go to the land of waves. Sasuke after now deciding that what Naruto had done didn't bother him tried to start up a conversation with her "So Naruto, was that enough action for you? You looked like you had fun" Naruto perked up at Sasuke's words, she had been afraid he wouldn't accept her after he saw her tear that man apart, his talking to her again gave her hope he would. "I did have fun! I've waited soooo long for some action! I only wish it would have lasted longer, that guy was hardly even a fight." Sakura was surprised Sasuke seemed to have already moved past what Naruto had done, she could hardly look at the girl without seeing the smiling blood covered face she wore as she tore apart that ninja, how could Sasuke already be over it?

After the fairly short boat ride they arrived at the land of waves, there was a heavy mist in the air making it hard for them to see more than a few feet in front of themselves. Kakashi was wary he could sense the chakra in the mist this wasn't natural, someone was creating this, he had to be on guard they could be attacked at any moment. They continued down the road, Naruto and Sasuke idly chatting when Kakashi suddenly yelled "get down!" they all dropped to the ground as a huge cleaver looking sword flew over their heads and impaled itself into a tree a few yards in front of them. Kakashi jumped up glaring at the sword and the man now standing on top of it.

"Kakashi of the sharingan, no wonder the demon brothers failed with a ninja like you guarding the bridge builder." Kakashi took only a moment to recognize the man from the bingo books "Zabuza Momichi, the demon of the mist, so you're the one after Tazuna." Zabuza smirked "I'm honored you know my name Kakashi, and yes my employer has paid a great deal of money for the bridge builders death." Kakashi glared at the man "You'll have to go through us before you can get Tazuna." Zabuza laughed "I'm so afraid you and a few brats, what ever will I do." Kakashi wore a smirk of his own "These brats are the ones who took out you're men, I didn't do a thing." That surprised Zabuza though he didn't show it he simply looked over the three genin, a pink haired kunoichi who, while hiding it well, he could tell was terrified by him, an over confident little boy with something to prove and, this one was interesting a blonde kunoichi wearing an almost evil smile clearly eager for a fight. "Let me guess the blonde and the boy took out the demon brothers? Pinky hardly looks like she can stand much less fight." Naruto let out a laugh "Those weaklings were an insult to the name, I'll show you what a real demon looks like!" Naruto's eyes went red and her canine's grew before she shot toward Zabuza "Naruto!" Kakashi yelled before going after her.

Naruto charged forward faster than Zabuza would have thought possible for a genin, getting to him in less than a second. Zabuza wasn't some push over like the demon brothers were though, he swung from the handle of his sword to avoid Naruto's strike, pulling it free from tree just in time to use it to block Kakashi's attack. "Sasuke, Sakura guard Tazuna! Don't let him out of your sight!" Kakashi jumped back to avoid Zabuza's sword as it came towards his stomach. Naruto grabbed onto a tree branch using her previous momentum to launch herself back toward Zabuza who jumped out of the way as she hit the ground using her claws to tear the place he was just standing to shreds. "Earth Style: Earth Dragon" Kakashi immediately followed up forcing Zabuza into constant defense. Zabuza jumped back again forming his own hand seals "Water Style: Water Dragon jutsu" the two dragons collided in and explosion of mud. Naruto jumped through the mud explosion expelling wind chakra as she went through the mud to shield her from the force. Naruto flew out of the mud heading straight for Zabuza who quickly put his sword up and used it as a shield from her strike. Naruto's wind enhanced claws left deep scars in Zabuza's sword as the collided with it. Zabuza jumped back again onto a small lake, but didn't get any time to rest as Naruto immediately followed. Naruto threw an endless onslaught of attacks at Zabuza who weaved and dodged around them until he saw an opening and used the broad side of his sword to bash Naruto away. Naruto skipped across the water and back into the forest as Kakashi jumped past her to engage Zabuza.

Kakashi landed in front of Zabuza, his sharingan now uncovered, and watched him waiting for Zabuza to make a move. "That's quite the kid you got there Kakashi" Zabuza said with a smile "it's a shame I'm going to have to kill her." Kakashi sensed Naruto coming back and decided to attack to keep Zabuza's attention "Water Style: Water Bullet" Zabuza countered with his own Water Style jutsu "Water Style: Water Wall." The jutsu collided sending water everywhere and blocking Zabuza's visibility for just a second, a second Naruto used. As the water went down four Naruto's shot right toward Zabuza converging on him in the blink of an eye assaulting him with a barrage of attacks from all sides. Zabuza dodged and blocked with all of his skill, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up. Zabuza risked a small opening kicking one of the clones in the chest causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke. Unfortunately for Zabuza one of the clones was able to capitalize on the attack and slashed him across the chest. He was able to avoid severe damage by bending backward and countered by swinging his sword around and slashing the clone with his sword. A second later Zabuza's eyes widened as he heard Kakashi call "Water Style: Giant Vortex jutsu." Zabuza and both Naruto's were engulfed in the giant vortex of water as it shot out of the lake tearing apart the forest as it went. "That was close, you almost got me" Kakashi spun around to see Zabuza standing there with a smirk Kakashi cursed on the inside 'damn he must have been able to substitute away.' Zabuza span around as he felt yet another Naruto land behind him, his eyes widened when he saw she was covered in paper bombs. Zabuza quickly put his sword between himself and the shadow clone an instant before it exploded, violently throwing him across the water to the other side of the lake.

Zabuza stumbled to his feet now bleeding from several gashes over his body, he had burns on his right shoulder and arm and at least a few broken ribs. He wasn't given a chance to rest as Naruto landed a few feet away with a sick grin on her demon like face "I call them suicide clones, you like?" she didn't give him a chance to answer before she went in to continue the attack, forcing him back onto the lake. Zabuza blocked and dodged every strike but he could feel his body giving out he couldn't keep this up, they had him on the defensive from the beginning and he hadn't gotten the chance to go on the offensive the whole fight. As if to reiterate the rest of the fight he felt Kakashi send another jutsu at him from behind "Water Style: Water Dragon jutsu." Naruto jumped away and started going through her own hand seals as Zabuza brought his sword up to protect him from Kakashi's water dragon. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame jutsu" Naruto shot the searing flame toward the exposed Zabuza who quickly let the chakra out of his feet allowing him to fall into the water and the two jutsu to collide. The jutsu hit each other causing steam to go everywhere, drastically reducing visibility, just how Zabuza liked it.

Sasuke had been the watching the fight from the side lines only not joining because it really looked like it was going their way and he had orders to stay put and guard Tazuna. When the jutsu hit and the steam went everywhere Sakura was the only think kept him in his place, as he was about to rush in Sakura grabbed his arm "Sasuke! We were told to stay put, I know you're worried but if anyone can handle this it's Naruto, and she has Kakashi backing her up we have to stay put." Sasuke grimaced but finally nodded "I guess you're right" a few seconds later he heard Naruto scream and glared at Sakura "Does it sound like she's fine!" he yelled at her before charging into the mist to look for Naruto.

Zabuza climbed back onto the lake's surface, he had to act fast this steam wouldn't last long if he wanted to use it his advantage he needed to do it fast. Zabuza quickly found where his opponents were and decided to go after Naruto who was much closer. Naruto stood on the water's surface looking around trying to locate Zabuza, she knew he was still alive and she wasn't going to let him get away. She felt a sudden pain on the right half of her chest and coughed up blood before looking down to see Zabuza's blade sticking through her chest. "You were good kid, but not goo—" Zabuza was cut off as Naruto let out a wail and shockwave of chakra so powerful it sent him several yards back leaving his sword impaled in Naruto's chest. Naruto then put her hands in the familiar cross for the shadow clone jutsu and clone appeared behind her. The clone grabbed the handle of Zabuza's blade and ripped it out of Naruto's chest causing her to scream in pain. After the sword was out a visible cloak of red chakra formed around Naruto and she turned to Zabuza who was laying wide eyed on the lake's surface. She had never looked more like a demon than at this moment her hair was flailing about like it was in water and she almost glowed with hate and bloodlust. She glared at Zabuza for a moment before taking his sword from her clone and dispelling it. "What are you?" Zabuza said in disbelief of what he was seeing "I already told you." she shot forward much faster than she had been before and planted her knee right into his solar plexus sending him flying back and crashing hard into a tree about 100 feet away.

Zabuza looked up with blurry eyes as the visage of the devil came into view through the steam, walking slowly towards him. "This is what a _true_ demon looks like!" Naruto yelled as she hurled his sword right as his head. His eyes widened as he looked at his death coming at him in the form of his own sword. To Zabuza's surprised the sword impaled the tree just the left of his head just grazing his shoulder. "I'm going to saver this" Naruto said licking her lips "I'm sure you taste delicious" at that moment two senbon entered Zabuza's neck and he went limp, dead. Naruto was stunned for a second before fury and rage refilled her, she looked to where the senbon came from to see a young ninja with a mask "You kill stealing bitch! HE WAS MINE!" Naruto screamed at the ninja who just looked at her. Naruto was about to take from this ninja what he at taken from her when she heard Kakashi call for her "Naruto" that caused her to stop and with one last glare at the hunter ninja she released the chakra cloak and returned to her usual blue eyed self. Kakashi showed up a moment later "Naruto, what happened? Where is Zabuza?" She pointed to the limp corpse of Zabuza which was now being picked up by the ninja "I had him, but then he showed up killed him." Kakashi nodded to the ninja who nodded back "Naruto that is a hunter ninja from Kiri, he was doing his job killing Zabuza and disposing of the corpse." Naruto just sneered "That would have been covered in five seconds anyway" she said as she walked away back toward the rest of the team. Kakashi spared one last glance at the Kiri hunter ninja, who was now pulling Zabuza's sword from its place in the tree, before following Naruto.

Naruto barely made it three steps away from Kakashi before Sasuke nearly crashed right into her. Sasuke skidded to a stop and grabbed Naruto by the shoulders "are you okay? I heard you scream, where is Zabuza?" Naruto pushed his hands off "he's dead, some ass hole showed up and killed him before I got the chance." Sasuke watched her walk past and looked to Kakashi who sighed "we can talk about it later." As they exited the steam Sasuke noticed that Naruto's shirt and mesh armor were torn and there was dried blood and pink scar on her back "what happened? You're shirts ripped and is that a scar?" Naruto glanced at him "Yeah, Zabuza stabbed me" she said it so nonchalantly Sasuke couldn't believe it "he _stabbed_ you! How are you even walking around?! That wound looks weeks old!" Naruto simply shrugged "I heal fast." Sasuke's jaw nearly hit the ground.

As they came into view Sakura began waving her hands at them "Thank god you're all right!" she looked to Sasuke "What were you thinking rushing in like that?" then she looked at Naruto "and what the hell is wrong with you?! Attacking a veteran ninja with no regard what so ever! You're lucky you're not dead!" Naruto just glared at her with an incredibly annoyed look "Sakura everything is fine, I honestly don't know if I could have defeated Zabuza alone and, while she shouldn't have charged in so recklessly, Naruto is more than capable in a fight" Kakashi said to calm her down. "Now let's just get to Tazuna's house so we can rest, it's been a long day." Sakura conceded and stopped talking while Tazuna led the way to his home.

**Authors note:** _Before anyone says anything, there is a reason that people can't sense when Naruto is using the nine tails chakra and it will be explained later._


	7. Chapter 7 The Demon's New Jutsu

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 7**

**The Demon's New Jutsu**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

**Authors note:** _Thank you to for pointing out there is in fact a suicide shadow clone jutsu, I had no idea but it's totally awesome._

Team seven led by Tazuna arrived at his house less than an hour later to Kakashi's relief, this had been a long day but at least they could rest some now. Tazuna led them through the house into the living room "it's not much to look at but it's home"

A second later a women walked through one of the doors "thank god you're all right, we were worried sick about you" the women hugged Tazuna before bowing to their guests.

Tazuna introduced the women "This is Tsunami, my daughter" he then gestured to the leaf ninja "and these are the ninja from Konaha that are going to insure we can finish the bridge" he motioned for them to introduce themselves

"I am Kakashi Hatake, leader of our team, jonin of Konaha"

Sakura was next "I'm Sakura Haruno"

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha"

"and I'm Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto was still a little down from having her kill taken from her so her introduction was a little lack luster from what it usually was.

"It's wonderful to meet you all, thank you for protecting my father; I don't know what we would do if we lost him." Soon after there was a screech from the door Tsunami had come from and she jumped and rushed back though the door call over her shoulder "dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

Tazuna led team seven to where they would stay "here you go" he motioned to the room as he opened the door "I'll let you set up" Tazuna said as he walked back down the stairs to the dining room. Naruto took the far back corner of the room and Sasuke set up close to her, maybe a little too close. Sakura took the corner of the room on the other side of Sasuke and Kakashi took the corner across from Naruto.

"Dinner is ready" they heard Tsunami call from down stairs and headed down to eat, Kakashi was happy to be able to rest and recharge, that fight was pretty chakra intensive and frankly he was surprised Naruto didn't seem more tired even with her enormous chakra reserves. They sat down for dinner Kakashi sitting at one side of the table with Tazuna sitting at the head and Tsunami at the foot of the table, Naruto sat across from Kakashi and Sasuke of course sat next to her leaving Sakura to sit next to Kakashi. Not long after the food was bought out Tsunami called upstairs again "Inari dinner is ready, come get some food" and a few seconds later a sulking boy slumped down the stairs and took a seat next to Sakura.

They started dinner and some light conversation started up "So how was the trip from Konaha?" Tsunami asked

Sakura spoke up first "we were attacked, twice" Tazuna shot Sakura a look as Tsunami looked to him "you were attacked?! Are okay?"

"yes we're all fine, the ninja here were more than capable of defending against the attacker."

Sasuke interjected "we're all fine? Naruto got stabbed! By cleaver bigger than her and you say we're fine."

"come on Sasuke do I look hurt? I'm fine so stop going on about that" Naruto was still annoyed by the whole thing and here he was making a big deal about her getting stabbed.

"You were stabbed Naruto! You could have been killed!"

"but I wasn't and if you haven't noticed it didn't even slow me down so let it go!"

Kakashi sighed and shook his head "yes we're all fine, Naruto is a very fast healer." Sasuke gave Kakashi a quick glare but let the subject go and the conversation died a bit after that.

A little later Kakashi decided to see if he could cheer up Naruto who was still clearly upset about the day's events "So Naruto I noticed you used a clone covered in paper bombs against Zabuza, it was a clever move"

Naruto gave a small smile "thanks"

Kakashi nodded "did you know there is actually a jutsu for an exploding shadow clone?"

That got Naruto to perk right up "really?! Awesome! Can you teach me, please please please!" Naruto was now jumping up and down in her seat

"I wouldn't have brought it up if wasn't willing to teach it to you."

Naruto jumped out of her seat "great let's go!"

Kakashi sweat dropped at that "tomorrow Naruto, it's late and I'm still eating"

Naruto slumped a bit but nodded "alright."

After dinner team seven went upstairs to get some sleep. Naruto was excited for tomorrow, learning new jutsu was always fun and this one sounded awesome! She got ready for bed and took her corner eager for the next day. Sasuke took his spot next to Naruto "why are you so close? Everybody else took the corners" Naruto asked slightly annoyed he had chosen to sleep two feet away

"after what happened today I'm not letting out of my sight, I have to protect you"

while some might like the sentiment it pissed Naruto off "what the hell does that mean?! You think I can't protect myself?!"

"Obviously not! You got yourself stabbed!"

Naruto was angrier than she had ever been at Sasuke in this moment "It was a battle Sasuke, shit happens! And if I can't protect myself how are you supposed to protect me? We all know I'm stronger."

Kakashi came into the room after he heard all the yelling "Stop it! You're ninja, act like it! Stop fighting and get some sleep."

Naruto glared at Sasuke until he finally picked up his stuff and moved to the remaining corner of the room. Kakashi laid in bed thinking to himself 'they're almost more trouble than they're worth, they're probably the strongest genin in Konaha but this was ridicules it was so easy to set one of them off.'

The next day at breakfast you could feel the tension in the air. Sasuke, despite Naruto's many objections, wouldn't leave her side insisting she not be out of his sight for more than a moment; their constant bickering had everyone at the table uncomfortable.

Kakashi decided to give the rest of the table a break from his students fighting "Naruto come on let's go"

Naruto stopped mid argument with Sasuke "Yes! New jutsu!" she called as she jumped out of her seat and shot out the door with Sasuke close behind.

Kakashi sighed and bow to Tazuna and Tsunami "please excuse their behavior. They have an, odd dynamic" with that Kakashi left with Sakura in tow.

Kakashi led his team to a small clearing not far from the house "All right first things first" Kakashi said as he looked at his students "this jutsu is an advanced form of an already advanced jutsu, it requires outstanding chakra control and complete mastery of the basic shadow clone jutsu." That didn't make any of them feel confident Sakura had great chakra control but she didn't use shadow clones and this jutsu didn't really fit her style, Sasuke knew the shadow clone jutsu and had good chakra control but it wasn't outstanding, and his mastery over shadow clones was nowhere near Naruto's. Naruto herself was confident she had the mastery needed over shadow clones but she had some trouble with chakra control, she and Kurama had been working on it for a while but sheer amount of chakra she had along with it being volatile due to the tailed beast chakra had made chakra control difficult for her. "Now that that has been said, this jutsu defiantly fits Naruto more either of you" he gestured to Sasuke and Sakura "so if you want, you can try to learn it along with Naruto, or I could work on other things with you two."

Sakura nodded "yeah I don't think this jutsu really fits with my style, learning something else would be nice"

Sasuke looked at Naruto for a few seconds before responding "as much fun as it sounds, I think I would rather work on some elemental jutsu."

Kakashi nodded he had expected as much "alright, I'll show Naruto what to do and meet you two over by the water" he pointed to his left. Sasuke followed Sakura to water albeit reluctantly as he didn't want to leave Naruto's side.

After they had gone Naruto sighed in relief "thank god, Sasuke has been annoying lately"

Kakashi chuckled at that "yes he has been quite protective of you since the fight"

Naruto shot him an annoyed glance "let's get on to the training"

Kakashi shrugged and put his hands up defensively "alright." Kakashi went through the hand seals and created a suicide shadow clone "it works just like a normal shadow clone in the sense that it is a solid clone of yourself capable of anything a normal shadow clone would be, the difference is you have to build up the chakra to the point where it can explode while maintaining the form. The real trick to making this jutsu effective is being able to build up the chakra and still being able to keep it feeling and looking like a normal shadow clone, if you build up to much the clone could go off without warning or your opponent might even be able to sense that it is not a normal shadow clone and avoid it. If you don't put enough chakra into it then the clone won't be able to explode and will instead just be a regular shadow clone that cost more chakra." Kakashi then had the clone detonate in a large explosion leaving a crater in the ground.

"That is awesome!" Naruto shouted excitedly

"the size of the explosion and overall effectiveness of the jutsu depends on the amount of chakra you expend and your ability to conceal its differences from a regular shadow clone" Kakashi continued.

Naruto quickly went through the hand seals and pumped her chakra into the clone. What spawned from her attempt could only be called an abomination; it was bulging and literally pulsing with chakra. The deformed clone let out a loud groan and Kakashi grabbed Naruto and jumped away just before it went up in a massive explosion. Naruto looked wide eyed at the massive crater left by her clone "that was amazing" she said with a stunned smile

"maybe a little too much chakra Naruto, you nearly blew yourself up. Try more control over the chakra for now and put less into it." Kakashi was surprised by the size of the explosion he knew she had chakra to spare but the amount she put into that clone must have been enormous.

Sasuke shot back to the clearing "What the hell happened?! That explosion was huge!"

"it was my first attempt, and don't be so surprised it is supposed to explode after all" she said with a smirk.

Sasuke deadpanned and Kakashi gave let out a laugh "come on Sasuke, let's let Naruto practice, and Naruto be careful, don't go blowing yourself up, I wouldn't want to explain to the Hokage how you blew yourself up practicing a jutsu I taught you."

Naruto laughed "I'll do my best but no promise" she called to him as he walked away practically dragging Sasuke with him.

Kakashi and Sasuke arrived back at the water with the waiting Sakura not long later "Alright Sasuke you wanted to learn an elemental jutsu, did you have anything in mind?" Kakashi asked as they walked to Sakura.

"yeah I was wondering if you could teach me that jutsu Naruto used that hit yours and created the steam 'Dragon flame jutsu' I think it was"

Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow "that's not an easy jutsu, Naruto is an extraordinary genin to be able to use it." Sasuke frowned a little at that before Kakashi continued "but, I think you're up for it" he said with a smile. Kakashi proceeded to show and explain the jutsu to Sasuke who began practicing aiming at the water to not burn anything, all the while there were periodic explosions coming from Naruto's direction.

Kakashi then went to Sakura "Okay Sakura it's your turn. Would you like to continue genjutsu? You've had quite the aptitude for it"

Sakura nodded "I would like that." Kakashi went over some basic genjutsu with Sakura while certainly not at the level of his other two students she was very bright and was quickly become very skilled in genjutsu he wouldn't be surprised if she could be one of the strongest genin in Konaha if she would stop obsessing over Sasuke, though he had noticed she didn't seem to be doing it as much.

Tazuna showed up not long later "hey, is one of you going to come guard me at the bridge?"

Kakashi looked at him "it's unlikely there will be any trouble with Zabuza out of the picture, so I'll send a clone with you today." He said as he created a shadow clone "the clone should be able to protect you, if anything happens the clone will contacted me and we'll be right there."

Tazuna nodded "alright, but you better be right about that I don't want to die because of this" he was clearly worried after what happened yesterday.

Kakashi was looking over his students practicing their respective jutsu. It had been about three hours and he noticed that Sasuke seemed to be having trouble with his jutsu which wasn't really surprising seeing as it was a hard jutsu to use and he was only a genin, but he decided to follow up on a suspicion he was having. Kakashi walked over to Sasuke "how is it going Sasuke? You look tired"

Sasuke grunted "I'm fine, I'll get it, I always do."

Kakashi nodded "have fire jutsu always been like this for you?"

Sasuke wasn't sure what he meant "yeah, they're hard at first but always get the hang of them after a while"

"alright carry on then"

Team seven all migrated back to the house after a hard day of training, Tazuna was already back and Tsunami was working on dinner.

"That was good work out there you guys, I'm very happy with all of your progress" Kakashi said with a smile to his exhausted team who all groaned at him getting him to chuckle. They all took their seats to wait for dinner and Kakashi decided it was a good time to test his students elemental affinities, he had a feeling Sasuke didn't have a fire affinity. Kakashi took out some paper and made sure he had his students attention "I think it's time we find out what your elemental affinities are"

Sasuke scoffed "I already know mine, and Naruto knows hers as well"

Kakashi simply smiled "Humor me" After Sasuke's interruption Kakashi continued "these pieces of paper are made from special chakra infused trees and will show you what affinity you have, all you have to do is push a little bit of chakra into it" He held up one of the pieced of paper between two fingers and pushed some chakra into it which caused it to crumple. "The paper will crumple for a lightning affinity, burn for a fire affinity, become drenched in water for a water affinity, crumble to dirt for an earth affinity, and split in two for a wind affinity" Sakura was eager to find hers out being the only on the team who didn't already know their affinity "Sakura how about you go first" Kakashi said as he handed her one of the pieces of paper. She held the paper between her fingers like Kakashi had done and pushed her chakra through it and the paper instantly became drenched in water "A water affinity, not unexpected, I have plenty of water jutsu I can teach you" Kakashi said to an excited Sakura. "How about you next Sasuke?"

Sasuke shrugged "I don't see the point but I guess it won't hurt anything" Sasuke took the offered piece of paper and mimicked Kakashi's example, the paper crumpled and Sasuke had a dumbfounded expression on his face "As I expected, you don't have a fire affinity. With a lightning affinity I'll be able to teach you my personal jutsu" Sasuke nodded as he thought over what he had just learned. "Alright Naruto do you want to try?"

Naruto nodded "sure can't hurt" she took the paper and did the same as the others. The paper split down the middle and lit on fire at the same time and Kakashi couldn't hide the surprise from his face, he had never even heard of someone without a Kekkei Genkai having two dominant affinities. The genin didn't seem surprised by this as they all knew how skilled Naruto was with both types of jutsu and were unaware that it wasn't normal for someone to have two affinity types.

"Diner's ready" Tsunami called from the other room and Tazuna and her brought it out to the table shortly after. "I hope you like it" Tsunami said with a smile to their guests as she placed the food on the table and took her seat "Inari dinner" she called up the stairs and Inari slowly came down the stairs with his usual depressed attitude before taking a seat next to his mother. There was some idle chatter as dinner went on, Kakashi and Tazuna spoke about the bridge while Tsunami talked with Sakura and Naruto and Sasuke went about their usual bickering.

Dinner was halted by an outburst from the usually quite Inari "Why do you even try?! You're all gonna die anyway! You can't beat Gato."

It was quite for a second before Naruto let out a laugh "you think that little prick's gonna kill me? You got that one backwards."

Inari scoffed "yeah right, you should be afraid you have no idea what he can do, he'll kill you just like he killed dad you have no idea what it is like!"

Naruto glared at him before giving an evil grin "you have no idea what fear is kid, I'm not afraid of anything, because I'm scariest thing there is." Her eyes flashed red for a second and she put off enough killer intent to scare the shit out of him.

Inari fell to the ground and stared horrified at the girl "Naruto!" Kakashi yelled "what is wrong with you! You can't go sending killer intent at civilians! He's just a child!"

Naruto turned a glare to Kakashi "I was just teaching him a lesson, you heard how he was talking"

"that is no excuse Naruto for god sakes show some restraint!"

Naruto scowled at him before getting up and walking out of the house slamming the door behind her. Kakashi sighed "I apologize for her behavior" he said bowing to Tsunami before following Naruto.

Sakura scoffed after Kakashi left "What is wrong with her?"

Sasuke looked angrily at her "Nothing is wrong with her! You have no idea what she's been through so don't you dare talk about her like that" the outburst startled Sakura who stared wide eyed at Sasuke as he fumed at her before he too followed Naruto out the door.

"He really loves her doesn't he" Tazuna said after watching the scene play out, it was like a knife stabbing into Sakura's heart. He really did love Naruto even with how she acted and everything she did, how was she supposed to compete against _her_? Tsunami tried to console the clearly scared Inari but as soon as he regained his bearing he ran back up to his room.

Naruto stormed through the forest, damn Kakashi she didn't do anything wrong, that kid asked for it. Kakashi was always on her case, ever since team seven had been formed he'd been watching her like a hawk it was bull shit.

"Naruto stop!" Kakashi yelled to her as he caught up.

Naruto growled and looked at him with a hateful glare "what do you want? Can't I have one fucking minute to myself?!"

Kakashi gave her a sad look "Naruto I know you've been though a lot but you have to control yourself."

Naruto was filled with a burning rage "You don't know shit!"

Kakashi sighed before deciding what to say next "I know more than you think Naruto. Your father was a good friend and I promised to watch over you"

Naruto scoffed "Oh yes my father, the legendary fourth Hokage" Kakashi went wide eyed caught completely off guard "you think watching from the shadows counts as watching over me? Where the hell were you when I was kicked out of the orphanage or how when I was living on the streets eating out of the trash like some stray dog?! Or when I was cornered by a mob and stabbed fourteen times?! I was six, alone and hated and you watched from a distance never intervening, don't flatter yourself Kakashi, you never watched over me a day in your life! You're a hypocrite and a liar" as she screamed at him tears had started to flow down her face as she remembered her life before Kurama had saved her.

Kakashi stood dazed as she vented at him, and she was right, what kind of student, of _friend_ was he to Minato to let his daughter go through all of that? He should have taken care of her, he should have protected her, and the fact that she somehow knew about everything only made it worse, he couldn't hide his shame.

Naruto stared at him for what felt like an eternity after she finished waiting for a response, but Kakashi just stood there wide eyed and speechless. She eventually shook her head and retreated further into the forest. Kakashi watched her go still too stunned to move when he heard Sasuke behind him

"is it true?" Kakashi looked over his shoulder at him "did those things really happen to her?" he paused for a moment "and did you really just sit back and watch?" Sasuke kept his face as impassive as he could but he could feel the rage bubbling over.

Kakashi just looked at him not sure what to say, he couldn't forgive himself how could he expect Sasuke to understand, especially since he was so irrational when it came to her. "yes, I didn't look after her and I know I should have, I was on a mission when she was attacked by the mob, but I could have been there for her and I wasn't" he said it quietly and the words were filled with the shame he felt.

Sasuke was overwhelmed, he had known Naruto had had a hard life but he didn't know the extent, she would never talk about it and he could hardly blame her now knowing what had happened. "You disgust me" Sasuke spat out scowling at Kakashi before going after Naruto.

Naruto found a tree and sat in one of the branches trying to stop crying 'damn that Kakashi I haven't cried in years' she thought as she tried to compose herself

"**It's alright pup, I'm here, you'll never be alone again, and I won't let anything hurt you.**"

She smiled a little at that 'I know, thanks Kurama.'

A few seconds later Sasuke showed up "Naruto" he called as he landed next to her. She quickly wiped away her tears "Sasuke, what are you doing here?"

Sasuke looked at her with a small frown "I heard everything, why didn't you ever tell me about it? You know you can tell me anything."

Naruto froze at that she never wanted to expose herself so much to anyone much less Sasuke she didn't want him to see her so weak, what they had worked and she knew it was going to change now, there was no way Sasuke would be able to treat her the same after finding out about her past. "I… I didn't want you to see me weak, I didn't want you to ever know, I didn't want anybody to." She looked at the ground as she said it and the tears started flowing again. Sasuke saw her start crying, he had never seen her cry before it just wasn't something she did, seeing her like this wasn't right if made him angry, angry at himself for causing it, angry at her for doing it, but most of all angry at the people that had made her feel this in the first place. He didn't know what to do so he went with his instincts and wrapped his arms around her. Naruto was surprised by him hugging her but she didn't protest, she just let herself cry into his shoulder.


	8. Chapter 8 The Bridge of Death

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 8**

**The Bridge of Death**

**Disclaimer:** _I don't own Naruto or any of its characters_

It had been several days since Naruto and Kakashi's confrontation and they had yet to speak, but not because of a lack of trying on Kakashi's part. Naruto had been keeping to herself for the most part and always took guard duty over Tazuna at the bridge; even Sasuke hadn't been able to get more than a few words out of her since that night.

Sasuke woke up early but of course Naruto was already gone probably off training until Tazuna was ready to go to work. He sighed and headed down stairs to get some breakfast before going out and training himself.

Naruto was in the forest not far from the house beating her frustrations into the trees. How could she be so weak, no one was supposed to see her like that, she wasn't some helpless child anymore, she was a demon, a tool of death and destruction. The more she thought about it the angrier she got, with a loud growl she used her wind enhanced claws to tear what was left of the tree in front of her apart letting it fall with a loud thud. That was why she had been avoiding Sasuke, whenever she saw him now all she could think about was how weak she was in that instant, about how vulnerable she was, she couldn't stand it. She heard a gulp and looked over to see Tazuna standing there, this wasn't okay she didn't even sense him this was getting into her head too much.

"Maybe I'll come back in a little bit" Tazuna said nervous about the clearly angry and very dangerous girl that had just torn down a tree in front of him.

"No" Naruto and took a deep breath composing herself "I'm fine, let's go" She started walking towards the bridge and Tazuna followed.

In the several days that she had been guarding him they hadn't spoken much she wasn't very talkative and seemed to be angry often and quite frankly she terrified him, she was only thirteen and not only had she killed but when she did she seemed to really enjoy it. So he was content with not talking as long she guarded him and didn't kill him, he didn't want to accidently provoke her or anything.

It was about a half hour walk to the bridge and the whole way they walked in an awkward silence which Naruto was grateful for she was in no mood to talk to anyone. She needed something to take her frustrations out on, something alive, something that would bleed. They arrived at the bridge to see the workers lying still on the cold concrete.

"Oh god what happened!" Tazuna yelled as he looked over the still forms of his friends.

"Well well he only has the little blonde bitch guarding him this will be easier than I thought" they heard Zabuza call it from further down the bridge before he started chuckling.

Naruto smiled so he wasn't dead after all, this was just what she needed and the hunter ninja was with him, this was going to be fun. "Oh you're back didn't get enough of getting your ass kicked?"

Zabuza stopped chuckling but kept his demeanor "you don't have Kakashi to help you now, and even with your strength you can't beat both of us"

Naruto grinned widely at him "I'll take that challenge" she created two clones "take Tazuna home can't have Zabuza trying to kill him while we fight" the clones nodded and took off with Tazuna.

"You think we're just going to let him go?" Zabuza said with a smirk "Haku go get him would you"

"Of course Zabuza" Haku replied.

Naruto quickly went through some hand seals "Summoning jutsu" there were four puffs of smoke around her that reviled four foxes that stood six feet tall on all fours.

"You called" the one closest to Naruto said while they all glared at Zabuza and Haku

"Yeah, we're gonna have some fun. Keep the big one with the sword busy while I kill the small one"

Zabuza hadn't expected that, how much did this kid have up her sleeve? He was worried now Haku was strong but was he stronger than this crazy blonde? Either way she had pretty much assured Tazuna's escape with this it didn't seem likely they would be able to deal with her and catch Tazuna before they got back and brought reinforcements.

The foxes gave a quick bow of their heads "as you wish" they said in unison before engaging Zabuza as Naruto intercepted Haku's attempt to chase Tazuna

"You don't get to get away" Naruto said as she swiped at Haku's stomach with her claw. Haku pulled back as Naruto attacked in a wild frenzy pushing him further down the bridge and away from Zabuza who was in a heated battle with the foxes. Haku and never seen anything like this, she looked so frenzied and wild, yet her attacks were fluid and precise, she never left an opening, he was sure if he wasn't as fast as he was that he would live long, this was a devastating fighting style she had clearly perfected. He had to get some distance it was only a matter of time before she hit him and with those claws one hit was all it would take.

Haku jumped back throwing a volley of senbon as he did. Naruto easily deflected them with her claws and quickly closed the distance he had just created. Haku used what little time he had to go through some hand seals "Ice Style: Ice spikes" he called sending a volley of large ice spikes at the charging Naruto. Naruto lit her gauntlets in flame and sent a wall of fire ahead of her melting the ice before in hit her. Haku jumped away again throwing more senbon which Naruto dodged as she went through some hand seals of her own "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu" she called as she sent the mass of searing chakra flames at where Haku was about to land.

Haku's eyes widened and he did the only thing he could think of to save himself, he used his ice mirrors. The flames died down and Naruto found herself staring at a floating panel of ice "what the hell is this?" she asked to herself a second before identical panels started forming all around in the shape of a dome.

"This is my ultimate jutsu, you're quite strong to force me to use it so early in the fight. I don't want to kill you, just let us take Tazuna and I'll let you leave this dome alive, something no one has ever done before." Haku wasn't lying, he didn't like killing and it would be a shame for someone with so much potential to be killed so young.

Naruto let out a laugh "well that's too bad, because I really want to kill you"

Haku decided to again try to persuade he "Don't you have a special person? Someone you would do anything for? Someone you would give your life for? Zabuza is my special person, my goals are to help him achieve his goals. He wants to free the land of water from the tyrannical fourth Mizukage, it's a noble goal that needs to be fulfilled, unfortunately we have to do some less than noble things to achieve that goal, we need money and thus we must kill the bridge builder. Now please leave and let us be, live to fight another day because I know you will a very important person someday if you do."

Naruto smiled widely at the mirrors "That was quite the speech, I do actually have a special someone, someone I have dedicated my life too and I will do everything I can to help him achieve his goals. Do you know what he is telling me to do now?" she paused for effect "He's telling me to kill you, and I can't wait" her smile turned into an evil grin as she said the last part.

Haku sighed and frowned beneath his mask "Very well, I'm sorry it had to end this way" Haku shot though the mirrors faster than even Naruto could keep up with sending and endless volley of senbon as he did. While she was able to block most of them some made through her defenses and the more that did the slower she got and she slowly became a human pin cushion.

Zabuza watched as Naruto forced Haku further down the bridge but was unable to help due to the four large foxes engaging him. He hoped Haku would be fine but he had to deal with these before he could help him, so he did as he always did and used his hidden mist jutsu the first chance he got. The jutsu had middling effects on the foxes while they couldn't see him their senses of smell and hearing made up for it, effectively stopping Zabuza from getting close enough before they noticed him and keeping the direction of Naruto and Haku to well-guarded for him to get past. He felt a large flare of chakra from their direction he had to finish this fast if he wanted to help Haku in time.

Zabuza quickly went through some hand seals "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu" He shot it at the nearest fox twisting it so it would hit the others as well. He heard a yelp and puff of smoke before the collision of fire and water, he could sense that two of the remaining foxes had used jutsu of their own, probably a combination to counter act his jutsu. He only had a second to think this because the third fox shot a jutsu at him having devised his location via his water vortex. He dodged out of the way of a large fire ball that exploded not far behind him.

He went through some more hand seals "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu" he yelled as the torrent of water nailed the fox that had attacked him, this was going fast, but not fast enough. He followed up by charging one of the remaining two foxes and engaging it in kenjutsu. He caught the fox of guard and it didn't last long.

It was down to one on one and they stared off against each other waiting for the other to make a move. The fox made the first move jumping at Zabuza going for the throat. Zabuza was ready to counter when two senbon flew from side and nailed the fox mid-air causing it to yelp and puff away before it reached him.

Zabuza looked over to see Haku "Haku, did you win? Is she taken care of?" Zabuza was skeptical it hadn't been long and Naruto was strong, but then again Haku was also very strong and he didn't doubt his abilities.

Haku nodded "yes, she is dead"

Zabuza gave a small smile as Haku walked towards him "Well good job I thought th-" he was cut off as Haku got about 5 paces away he exploded. Zabuza coughed up some blood and blinked trying to regain his bearings, he couldn't move his left arm or leg and upon further inspection it was because they were no longer attached to his body. His left half was mangled and burned, his right did a little better he could move his right arm a bit but the pain was excruciating. He should have realized it wasn't Haku from the beginning, this was it for him even if Naruto didn't come finish him he would bleed to death in a few minutes.

He looked down the bridge as his hearing started to come back and he heard footsteps, it was Naruto, and she was dragging Haku who had a hole in chest right where is heart was. It hurt more than any of his physical wounds to see Haku like that, dead, cold and lifeless, it was like his heart was torn out which is what looks like literally happened to Haku.

_Naruto collapsed to her knees, there were senbon in virtually every part of her body, how did he have so many of them? It didn't matter it was time to end this, she built up Kurama's chakra and expelled it in a large burst sending the senbon shooting out of her._

"_Impossible, no person could live through that" Haku said in shock_

_Naruto laughed "Haven't we already covered this? I'm a fucking demon!" with that she formed Kurama's chakra into a fist and slammed it into one of the mirrors. The mirror shattered under the unyielding force of the most powerful tailed beast._

_Haku came flying out of the mirror and crashed hard on the ground, his mask split through the middle and fell from his face as he hurried to get to his feet. Right as he go to them Naruto had his neck in a vice grip, she was coated in a visible layer of red chakra. She grinned evilly at him with her red eyes ripping into his soul, she was terrifying. She just stared at him for a few seconds before he felt a searing pain in his chest, he looked down to see her hand was now inside his chest cavity, around his heart._

_Naruto brought her face to his ear "Zabuza's next" she gave his only a couple of seconds to contemplate that before she crushed his still beating heart. He choked out some blood and went limp, she callously let his corpse fall to the ground with a thud tearing what was left of his heart out as he fell. She held the heart above her head and rung what blood there was left into her mouth "yumm" she cooed as she licked her lips. Now it was time for some fun with Zabuza._

Naruto dragged Haku and dropped him just out of Zabuza's reach, she was grinning the whole time "He wasn't much of challenge Zabuza, it's sad really, you fell right into that trap. It was way too easy to read you." She stepped over to his mangled side as he looked at her with all the hate he had, he tried to pull out a kunai but she simply took out one of her own and used it to pin his remaining hand to the bridge. She stuck her clawed hand, that wasn't already covered I Haku's blood, into the gaping wound on Zabuza's side eliciting a loud scream of pain. She brought the now blood covered hand to her lips and licked the blood off getting a blissful grin on her face as she did "oh I was right, you are delicious, even better than Haku"

"Fuck you, you insane bitch just kill me and get it over with!"

Naruto shrugged "if you insist" she bent over and pulled his sword off his back positioning it above his chest "it's only fitting you die from your own blade" she gave him a smirk as she impaled his sword though his chest. Zabuza grunted and blood shot out of his mouth, the bandages had been burned off in the explosion, and flew right into Naruto's smiling face. Zabuza looked over to Haku and whispered "I'm sorry" before his eyes glazed over and he finally died.

Naruto's smile faded a bit, that was fun, but it was over now and she wasn't satisfied, as if some higher being was granting her every desire she heard clapping behind her.

"Well, that was quite impressive. You should come work for me, I could use someone like you on my payroll" Gato smiled as he said it, he was clearly confident the fifty men he brought were enough to protect him from Zabuza, or now this girl who had killed him.

Naruto knew who this was; Gato had actually come out himself, what luck! She giggled a bit before it went into an outright laugh "What luck! Here I thought my fun was over and you show up with a bunch of fresh meat, I can't wait to taste it" she licked her lips and started walking toward the group.

Gato gave her a smirk "come on kid, you may have been able to kill Zabuza but this is fifty on one, you've got no chance"

Naruto simply smiled "We'll just have to see about that" she created two clones and they all charged the remaining distance. The thugs got into defensive positions but they weren't ready for what came next. The clones each sent barrages of wind chakra out from their claws that literally tore apart the front line of men sending blood and body parts flying into the crowd. Naruto herself went through some hand seals as she jumped high above the crowed "Fire Style: Dragon flame Jutsu" she sent into the mass of men lighting nearly a dozen with the super-heated flames.

Gato started in horror as the Narutos tore through his men like they were little more paper, he watched as a burning man screamed in pain as his skin melted and his bones cracked from the heat. He had nowhere to go, where ever he turned there was another man being cut down and mutilated. It wasn't long before the screams died down as she ran out of men to massacre and all that was left was Gato horrified and cowering in the mass of gore the was the remains of his men.

Naruto finished off the last enemy gouging his eyes out with her claws and digging into his brain; she then looked to Gato and started walking menacingly toward him "what was that about no chance?"

Gato was shaking and whimpering as he watched the blood drenched girl slowly approaching him with a smirk on her face "I.. I'll give you anything! You name its yours, all the money you could ever desire!" He begged as he tried to back away.

Naruto chuckled "I don't want your money Gato, I want you head" with that her two clones grabbed his arms and forced him to his knees.

"NO NO PLEASE!"

Naruto grabbed the sides of his head with her clawed fingers digging into his neck and pulled with all her might. Gato screamed and wailed and then started gurgling on his own blood as his spine broke under the pressure and his neck tore. Naruto pulled and ripped at his head until if finally detached from his body. It was hardly a clean cut, a piece of the spine was hanging from the back and bits of meat where dangling from the severed part of the neck.

She dispersed her clones and her eyes widened a bit, she dropped Gato's severed head and turned around, there was her team standing there looking at her in horror and disgust. Kakashi looked more disappointed than disgusted, but she didn't give a fuck what he thought or Sakura for that matter who was now vomiting. No it was Sasuke that she cared about, and his face was twisted with disgust from the scene in front of him. Naruto had always know love was impossible for her but his face in that moment only confirmed it more than ever, no matter how much he thought he loved her, Sasuke would never be able to accept her for who, for _what_ she was.

"Naruto, what did you do?" Sasuke asked hardly able to get the words out of his mouth.

Naruto opened her mouth to talk but nothing came out. She took a deep breath and hardened her features "I did the job, I protected the bridge and its builder"

"WHAT?! You ripped that man's head off! How can you say that?!" Sakura screamed at her

"Oh that, I was just having some fun with Gato there" she smirked only farthing the disgust on Sakura's face. After a while of no one saying anything Naruto decided to go clean up and walked past them like nothing had happened.

Kakashi grabbed her arm as she passed "You can't do this Naruto, I have to report this to the Hokage"

Naruto chuckled "And what do you think he's gonna do? My methods may be brutal but I didn't do anything wrong, they were enemies and I treated them as such" she pulled her arm free "now if you'll excuse me I have some Gato to wash off" she walked off leaving her team standing silent on the bloody bridge.

Team seven left later that day, there wasn't much in the way of goodbyes with how it was left. The residents were grateful for everything they had done but scarred and disgusted by the mess Naruto made on the bridge. Kakashi decided that with Gato dead there really wasn't anymore danger and he needed to report to the Hokage, so he decided it was better to leave now instead of waiting for the bridge to be completed, even though it was only a day or two from completion.

The run back to Konaha was quite, no one really wanted to talk about what happened but at the same time none had put it behind them enough to talk about anything else. Without Tazuna to slow them down they were able to reach Konaha just after the sun set. They went straight to the mission office after arriving.

"You're back already? Was the mission a success?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto before nodding "Yes lord Hokage, the bridge builder is safe and the threat was eliminated."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the way he said 'eliminated' "I expect a full report"

"Of course, but my team is tired and would like to rest, may they collect their pay and go home? I can make my report and if it is needed they can report in the morning." Kakashi asked hinting that he needed to talk to Hiruzen alone.

Hiruzen nodded "Of course, you three are dismissed; you can pick up your pay from the secretary on the way out."

The genin bowed "Yes lord Hokage" and left the room.

After they were gone Hiruzen looked expecting at Kakashi "So?"

Kakashi sighed "It's Naruto sir, I'm worried about her. We encountered several enemy ninja on the mission, she is very skilled and was even able to beat Zabuza Momichi and his Ice Style wielding apprentice alone, but she killed them, not just killed them but mutilated them and seemed to relish it."

Hiruzen listened and contemplated the information "killing is part of the job, you know that. She maybe isn't as taken by death as most but it's hardly cause for concern."

Kakashi was stunned "She's thirteen, you don't think it's cause for concern that she _likes_ killing?"

"How many have you killed Kakashi? How many of those were before you were thirteen? You never had a problem with killing enemies, was something wrong with you?"

"The difference is I never ripped a man's head off to 'have some fun' as Naruto so elegantly put it"

Hiruzen sighed he didn't want to believe there was anything wrong with Naruto but if what Kakashi said was true it was hard to deny "You know what she has been through Kakashi, something like that is bound to leave scars. As long as she isn't harming this village's citizens, our allies, or harmless civilians then no action will be taken against her." He let out a deep sigh "Keep watching her, if you think she might harm an innocent report to me."

Kakashi nodded "One more thing, she knows, she knows about Minato and Kushina, she knows about my relationship to them, she knows everything."

Hiruzen's pipe fell from his lips in surprise as a myriad of thoughts and worries went through his head "How?"

"I didn't get the chance to ask, but I think it's safe to bet it was this Kurama. I don't know how he would know but nothing else makes since. Maybe it's not just the attack that made her how she is."

"Did you find anything else about him?"

"No, she deflects every time anyone tries to get any information about him, the only thing she will say is that he saved her and was there for her when no one else was."

Hiruzen sighed "well keep trying, this Kurama sounds dangerous, he could be manipulating Naruto."

Kakashi bowed "yes sir" and after being dismissed left. He didn't like it but the Hokage was right, she had been though a lot and it was crazy to think something like that wouldn't have a lasting effect on her. If only he hadn't been so weak, maybe Naruto wouldn't be the monster everyone, including her, saw her as.


	9. Chapter 9 The Demons Meet

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 9**

**The Demons meet**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

**Author's note: **_Sorry for taking so long to update, school got crazy with finals and shit but it's over now so I will hopefully be updating more often now._

The chunin exams were fast approaching and every jonin sensei had a decision to make, whether to nominate their teams or not. The meeting to nominate teams was later today and Kakashi was conflicted about nominating his team. He knew they could easily fly through the exams even Sakura was better than most genin but what he was worried about was Naruto's violent tendencies, while within the rules killing was frowned upon and from what he had observed of Naruto since they became a team she would jump at any chance she had to kill, perhaps even against a fellow leaf ninja. So he decided to take this indecision to the Hokage to ask for advice.

Kakashi nodded at Hiruzen's secretary who nodded and smiled back as Kakashi knocked on the Hokage's door.

"Come in"

Kakashi walked into the room closing the door behind him and giving a respectful bow to Hiruzen.

"Ah Kakashi to what do I owe this visit?"

"Lord Hokage sir, I am having trouble deciding whether to nominate my team for the chunin exams and would like some advice on the matter."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow "Why are you having trouble? Your team is far above the rest of the genin in most categories and have competed more missions than any other genin team this year; I would say they are more than qualified for the exams."

Kakashi nodded and gave a small prideful smile before it turned into a slight frown "I am sure they would easily pass the exams with flying colors as well, no the issue certainly isn't their skill level. The issue is Naruto, I'm afraid for the other competitors, with Naruto's high skill level and violent tendencies I am worried about what she might do."

Hiruzen sighed he was well aware of Naruto's stunt on the bridge in wave country and he knew Kakashi had a right to worry "Well Kakashi the question you should ask yourself is would more time make it any better? Do you think if you had another six months or a year of training her you would be able to help her learn that killing is not always necessary, or would holding her back only anger her and cause her to be even more violent? And what of the others on your team is it right for you to hold them back because you are worried about what Naruto might do?"

Kakashi opened his mouth and then closed it again as he searched for words thinking on what the Hokage had told him.

Hiruzen eyed Kakashi for about a minute waiting for a response, when none came he continued "Ultimately the choice is yours and I will support whatever you decide. I will need an answer by the nomination meeting though."

Kakashi nodded "yes sir"

"You are dismissed then" Kakashi bowed and Hiruzen nodded before Kakashi left the room.

All the jonin sensei were gathered in one of the many meeting rooms in the Hokage tower waiting for the Hokage to arrive to begin the meeting. Kakashi was with Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy.

"So how are your teams going? Are you guys going to nominate them for the chunin exams?" Kurenai asked to the group.

Guy burst out in his usual manner "Yes this time my team are more than ready they will show everyone the power of their youth!" everyone in the room stopped to look at guy who after realizing he was yelling in a small cramped room rubbed the back of his head "ah sorry" he apologized to the room.

Asuma laughed at his friend "always the loud one guy." He looked to Kurenai "I am going to nominate my team, they all have their issues working alone but together I think they can overcome any obstacles they might run into."

"Would expect nothing less from the famous ino-shika-cho formation" Kakashi said with a light smile.

"I am going to nominate my team as well, they're all quite skilled and I think they are more than ready for the exams." Kurenai said with proud smile

"What about you Kakashi? I have heard some stories about how skilled your genin are, especially Naruto, in the bingo book at such a young age, she must be quite the ninja." Asuma asked

Kakashi sighed "Naruto is the issue; she is very powerful, so much so that I am afraid of what she might do in the exams. I have been trying to decide whether to nominate them since we got back from the land of waves."

"You have to nominate them! Let them show the strength of their youth!" Guy shouted again forgetting where he was.

"She is going to have compete in the exams eventually, if your team is ready now I say take the risk and nominate them" Asuma stated

"I agree, besides if all our teams are the exams we can have some fun with it." Kurenai said with a sly smile.

Kakashi let out a small laugh "I guess you guys are right" he was still worried about what Naruto might do in the exams but he had finally made up his mind.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were training, waiting for Kakashi at training ground seven. Naruto and Sasuke were having a taijutsu spar with no weapons and Sakura was practicing some genjutsu.

Naruto weaved through Sasuke's strikes while throwing an unrelenting volley of her own forcing Sasuke on the defensive. Sasuke jumped back and caught Naruto with a kick as she tried to follow launching her back and allowing him to go on the offensive. Naruto quickly recovered and as usual was able to weave through Sasuke's attacks and get back onto the offensive. Just then Kakashi arrived in a swirl of leaves and Naruto took the opportunity to swipe out Sasuke's legs and pin him onto the ground.

"Can't let yourself get distracted" she said with a smile and a laugh as she let him up.

"Damn I thought I might be able to get you that time" he said with his own smile.

Their smiles faded though as they turned to Kakashi "Took you long enough" Naruto complained

Kakashi frowned "yeah, anyway as you guys probably already know the chunin exams are coming up soon." They all nodded "Well today there was a meeting for jonin sensei to nominate their teams for the exams." He pulled out three slips of paper "I nominated you guys." He handed them the slips of paper "It is your choice whether to participate or not, if you don't feel you're ready for the exams then you don't have to participate, don't feel pressured to" he looked at Sakura as he said it.

"Don't worry sensei I am ready if they are" Sakura said as she looked to Naruto and Sasuke

Naruto jumped up and down a bit "Yes! Finally! We're gonna kick so much ass in the exams!"

Sasuke was also excited but hid his excitement a bit "I'm sure it will be an interesting challenge."

Kakashi sighed, on the inside he had been holding onto the hope that Sakura would decide not to take the exams and give him more time to try and reign in Naruto but he hadn't really expected her to. "Alright then, fill out the forms and go to room 301 at 4PM tomorrow."

They nodded to him and with that he shunshined away.

Naruto was absolutely giddy with excitement this was the next step to Kurama's goals.

"**Congratulations, you are progressing wonderfully pup, I couldn't be more proud."**

She never felt more fulfilled then when Kurama gave her praise it was the thing she craved most in the world.

"Well see you tomorrow guys Kurama is teaching me a new jutsu and I want to make sure it's perfect before the exams" she waved and jumped away before Sasuke even had a chance to respond.

Sasuke sighed he had hopped they could get something to eat but he knew how seriously Naruto took her training hopefully it was a cool jutsu. He waved to Sakura "See you tomorrow Sakura" he said as he jumped away towards the Uchiha district.

Sakura felt much the same about Sasuke as he did about Naruto when she jumped off. She sighed and made her way home, guess it would be another dinner with the family.

Naruto made her way home deciding to relish in her excitement and take the scenic route. She didn't make it too far before she noticed Konohamaru her pseudo little brother in a precarious situation.

"You should really watch where you are going kid" an older kid with purple face paint and black full body suit said as he held Konohamaru up by the collar of his shirt.

"Konohamaru!" called his friends Udon and Moegi in unison

"Come on Kankuro let the kid go" it came rather uncaringly from a young women standing behind the now identified Kankuro.

"Oh come on sis I'm just gonna teach him a lesson"

Naruto watched as the scene played out '_well I should probably end this now, no reason I can't have some fun though_' with that she shunshined.

Suddenly a swirl of fire appeared a few feet from Kankuro and Konohamaru revealing Naruto as the flames faded.

"Naruto nee-chan!" Cried Konohamaru

Naruto gave a smirk "You should really let him go"

Kankuro froze a second before regaining his cocky attitude "and what are you going to about it?"

Naruto continued to smirk "Well I would just hate to have to kill you" she said in a sarcastic tone "but I think I would be forgiven seeing as your threatening the Hokage's grandson"

That knocked the confidence right out of Kankuro

"See you idiot I told you to let him go!" Temari said irritated

"Shut up Temari!" he yelled at the women before turning back to Naruto "heh heh, no reason to get out of hand" he said with a nervous smile as he set Konohamaru down "see he's fine there's no need to fight"

Konohamaru ran to Udon and Moegi "It wouldn't be much of fight! Naruto nee-chan would kick your ass!" He yelled once he was behind Naruto.

Naruto let out a single laugh "Go on home Konohamaru"

Konohamaru started to argue "but I wanna watch" though he was quick to back off and run home with his friends after Naruto sent him a glare "right, see you later Naruto" He stuck his tongue out at Kankuro before they all ran off.

After they were gone Naruto turned her attention back to the sand siblings staring at them for a moment "so you're Kankuro and you're Temari, who are you?" she said looking up into a tree.

Temari and Kankuro both froze before looking up to see Gaara standing in the tree. He shunshined in front of them "You two are disgraces to our village"

"G-Gaara it wasn't ou-"

"Shut up, or I'll kill you" Gaara said narrowing his eyes at Kankuro who immediately shut up

Naruto smiled a bit she liked how this guy worked it reminded her of herself

"**That boy stinks of Shukaku; He is the Jinchuriki of my brother, the ichibi"**

How interesting to meet another Jinchuriki and in the middle of her village no less oh these exams were going to be fun, she couldn't wait.

Gaara turned to Naruto "I am sorry for any inconvenience my siblings have caused you."

Naruto walked forward and held out her hand to Gaara "No inconvenience at all, it was a fun little distraction."

Gaara started at her hand for a moment before accepting it in his own.

She shook once "It was nice to meet you" she leaned in and whispered into his ear "ichibi" before pulling away with a smile "I'll see you soon." She grinned at him before shunshining away.

Gaara tensed and stared at where she had just been how could she possibly know? Who was that girl? She made him feel, something he didn't know what was. She was going to be a problem.

Kankuro and Temari stared at Gaara dumbfounded before he turned around and they composed themselves. He didn't even spare them a glance before leaving towards their hotel; it didn't take long for them to follow.


	10. Chapter 10 The Forest of Death

**The Heart of the Demon**

**Chapter 10**

**The Forest of Death**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

"Come on Sakura I know you can do it you have been working on this for weeks, let's go"

"Yeah Sakura you've got it now come on before we're late"

"Alright if you guys think so I'm ready"

"Great on three! One! Two! Three!" with that the three of them disappeared with shunshins

"I guess they're not coming, maybe they didn't even get nominated"

"Come on Choji think about who you are talking about, there is no way Naruto didn't get nominated she was freaking rookie of the year! She could kick all our asses and you know it, she'll be here." Kiba was starting to doubt that Naruto would show up himself there wasn't much time left

"Yeah there is no way Sasuke wasn't nominated!" Ino scolded

"You know Naruto, she is probably going to do some dramatic entrance and make a spectacle of herself." Shikamaru suggested

"Yeah she'll be here soon and show everyone how great leaf shinobi are!" Kiba said with a pump of his arm and as if on cue there were three shunshins in the center of the room.

Naruto appeared in a swirl of flames flanked by Sasuke in a twister of lightning and Sakura in a swirl of cherry blossoms. Naruto gave a quick look around the room before she heard a squeal from behind and watched Ino attach herself to Sasuke's back.

"You're so awesome Sasuke! I knew you would be here!"

"Get off him Ino pig!" Sakura yelled reverting back to her academy self

"Naruto! Amazing as ever!" Kiba called as he ran over to Naruto with Choji, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Shino walking over.

"Kiba long time no see how have you been?" Naruto asked with a smile as she gave Kiba a hug causing him to blush horribly. Sasuke watched the embrace with severe annoyance as he was unable to escape the two girls fighting over him.

"I've been great! Training mostly, look how buff I've gotten" He pulled his sleeve up and flexed his muscles giving a wide smile as he did "You want to touch them?"

Naruto chuckled "I'm good"

"I told you that wouldn't impress her Kiba" Shikamaru said in a snide tone causing Kiba to send him a cold glare.

"Good to see you Naruto, life is not as fun without you around" Choji said as he munched on his chips.

"It certainly has been, quieter."

Naruto gave Shikamaru a mocking glare "It's nice to see you too" she then turned to Hinata and scooped her into a big hug "Hinata!"

Hinata squeaked before returning the hug "Naruto" she said in her quiet timid tone

Naruto broke the hug "Still quiet I see. It's too bad, how many times have I told you how fun it is to be loud?"

"Many times Naruto but I am not as outgoing as you, I am happy being a quiet person."

Naruto pouted "Well that's no fun" Naruto had made some progress with Hinata over the years at the academy she used to have this awful stutter and now she had no trouble speaking clearly. Naruto was sure given enough time she would be able break her out of her shell.

It wasn't long before a tall leaf genin with silver hair and glasses approached the group "You guys are making quite the impression on everyone, painting targets on your backs. Especially you three" he pointed out team seven "theatrics are only going to get you killed, look around you're everyone's number one target."

Naruto looked at the crowd of people staring at the group and before long was able to locate Gaara who was staring intently at her with no expression. She locked eyes with him and grinned for a few seconds before turning back to the older leaf Genin "Why do you think we did it? This was the whole point let them come!" she yelled the last part to the crowd.

Kabuto smiled "Pretty sure of yourself, what's your name?"

Naruto looked back to Kabuto with a small smile "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and you are?"

"Kabuto Yakushi" He pulled out a large deck of cards and started looking through them

"What are those?" Sakura asked curious

"These are information cards, I have info on every ninja in this place." He pulled out a card and showed it to them pumping his chakra though it to show the information. The card was of Naruto and Kabuto proceeded to read it out loud. "Naruto Uzumaki first year genin, first time taking the exams, completed 43 D rank missions and one C rank turned A rank mission." He widened his eyes for effect, of course he already knew exactly who she was and what she had done "An entry in the Bingo book as an A rank threat, known as the Demon of the Leaf for killing the legendary Zabuza Momichi, one of the seven swordsmen of the mist known as the Demon of the Mist, and his Ice Style wielding apprentice along with massacring dozens of mercenary's and tearing the head off the corrupt business mogul Gato."

All eyes were on Naruto who just stood there with a small smile and a hint of pride

Hinata was especially shocked could Naruto really do such things? She had always know Naruto was strong and maybe a little less sane then normal people but was she really capable of tearing someone's head off? And she looked like she was proud of it, was this really the Naruto she knew? "Is that true, about the head?" Hinata asked quietly hardly breaking the silence that had set in.

Naruto looked to Hinata and her smile turned more comforting "It sounds a lot worse than it was, and he deserved to die, he was killing a whole island of people so he could make a quick buck."

"Yeah she was just protecting people! Naruto is not some crazy blood thirsty murderer!" Kiba shouted in Naruto's defense.

Sakura shot a glance to Naruto, she wasn't so sure.

There were a bunch of shunshins into the room revealing a bunch of chunin and the head of the interrogation division Ibiki Morino. Ibiki looked around and was easily able to identify Naruto, the genin in the bingo book, Jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox, these were going to interesting exams. "I am Ibiki Morino, and I will be the proctor of the first exam. Everyone come take a piece of paper, it will determine where you sit.

The jonin sensei watched the test from the jonin lounge; Kakashi was sitting with Guy, Kuranai, and Asuma.

"The test is starting; I believe there was mention of bets?" Asuma said eager to get it started

"Right, I'll bet that my team will make it all the way to the third exam." Kuranai started

"What if there are preliminaries? It happens and with so many talented young genin it seems likely there will be." Kakashi stated

"Alright, unless they have to fight each other in preliminaries I bet they all make it."

"I'll bet my team will make through the second exam and Shikamaru will make it through the preliminaries if there are any."

"I wager my team will make it all the way!" Guy declared loudly.

"Okay I bet my team will make it through to the third exam, unless they have to face each other, and that Naruto will win the whole thing."

"Wasn't she the reason you almost didn't nominate them? You're betting on her to win the whole thing?" Kuranai questioned.

"I almost didn't nominate them because I was afraid of what she might do, now that I have, I might as well make the safe bet for her to win."

Asuma chuckled "The safe bet, you're pretty sure of her aren't you"

"You haven't seen what she can do, she might even be stronger than me, no genin is going to be able to stand up to her."

Naruto took her seat and not long after Hinata took a seat next to her "Hinata, awesome we get to sit next to each other"

Hinata gave a soft smile "Yes it is nice to be able to sit next to you"

"Everybody quiet down!" Ibiki yelled and room was silent shortly after. He gave an intimidating look over everyone before he continued talking "The first exam with be a written test consisting of 10 questions. The test is on the desk in front of you, you will notice there are only 9 questions. The 10th question will be giving at the 45 minute mark and you will have 15 minutes to answer the question. You start out with all 10 points for every question you get wrong you will a point; every time you get caught cheating you will lose 2 points. Those who lose all 10 of their initial points will be removed from the exam along with their two teammates."

Naruto looked around; this was the perfect time to try out her new jutsu she just had to find someone to try it on. She found Gaara who was still staring intently at her, no she better use someone with more of a guarantee. Then her eyes fell upon Kiba, perfect. He saw her looking and waved at her and she waved back. This was going to be a piece of cake.

"Ready, Start!" Ibiki called and everyone started the test.

Hinata gave a quick look over the questions to confirm what she already knew; this wasn't a test of knowledge but a test of how well they could gather information without being caught. She activated her Byakugan and started copying down the answers.

Naruto decided to wait a few minutes for Kiba to gather the answers before using her jutsu. She looked for Sasuke and Sakura and found they were both scribbling away on their tests, Sasuke had his Sharingan activated, good they figured it out not that there was ever a doubt they would. After a few minutes Naruto saw Kiba put down his pen and decided it was time. She waited until Kiba turned his attention back to her which didn't take long and looked into his eyes. He smiled and looked back into hers, there was a swirl of red in their eyes and Kiba's face went blank for a moment before he returned to normal and started saying something to Akamaru.

About a minute later Akamaru came up and nudged at Naruto's feet "Good boy" Naruto said as she patted him on the head and took a piece of paper from him. Akamaru waged his tail and made his way back to Kiba.

Hinata watched this play out, why was Kiba giving the answers to Naruto? She activated her Byakugan again and saw the stream of chakra coming from Naruto, was this genjutsu? Since when did Naruto know genjutsu?

Naruto quickly scribbled down the answers making sure they were in fact correct, she didn't really need to cheat for the answers but she wanted to test her jutsu.

"Was that genjutsu?" Hinata asked

Naruto looked over to her and smiled "Yeah, I've been working on it for a while and wanted to test it, pretty cool right?"

Hinata nodded "Yeah. Why did you use in on Kiba?"

"I wanted to test in on someone easy first; the jutsu just kind of allows me to influence them. It is easier when the target actually wants to help in first place, I figured since Kiba has a crush on me he would be easy to influence."

Hinata could understand her reasoning but she didn't like it, Kiba was her teammate and even though she already knew Kiba liked Naruto it hurt to see Naruto not only knew but was willing to use his feeling for her own gains.

"Anyway, do you see that guy over there?" Naruto gestured to Gaara who had finished his test and was again staring intently at her.

Hinata looked over and saw Gaara staring at them with his dead eyes; it sent chills down her spine. "Yeah I see him."

"He's a sand ninja, we ran in to each other yesterday. What do you think of him?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean. I think he's cute, and he keeps staring at me with raccoon dog eyes."

Hinata looked at Naruto like she was crazy but she was too busy staring at Gaara. She thought he was cute? It looked like he wanted to kill her and she liked it? "um sure, I think he looks, fine" she said unsure of herself. How could Naruto like this guy and use Kiba like he was nothing it didn't make any sense. She seemed so different then when they were in the academy, she had never shown any real interest in any of the boys and this is the guy that catches her attention?

"Alright everybody pencils down!" Ibiki called from the front of the room catching Naruto's attention.

The room was significantly less full then it was when the test began, if so many were eliminated on this test Naruto didn't expect to have much challenge in the rest of the exams.

"The 10th question will be given now, but before we give the question you have a choice to make. You can choose to take the 10th question or not."

"Well why would we choose to take it then?" Sakura asked

"Because if you don't take it, you and your team fail, but if you do take it and get it wrong not only will your team fail but you will be banned from ever taking the chunin exams again."

Naruto wasn't surprised and was sure it was a bluff which her team realized quickly as well.

"What? How can that be! There are plenty of people here who have taken the exams before!" Kiba shouted.

"I wasn't the proctor before; in here I make the rules." He waited a few seconds to make sure there weren't any more outbursts. "Now it's time to decide whether to take the 10th question or not, if you wish to back out simply raise your hand and your team will be called."

Over the next couple of minutes people started raising their hands and the room cleared out even more.

"Anyone else?" after another 30 seconds or so he continued "Alright, to the 78 remaining, congratulations on passing the first test."

Most people were shocked and there was quite of bit of explaining the test afterwards which Naruto found both boring and unnecessary. After about 10 minutes of explaining had passed something interesting happened, a person flew through the window using kunai to pin up a large banner as she did.

"I am Anko Mitarashi and I will be the examiner for the second exam!"

Naruto smiled and sat up in her seat; this examiner seemed far more interesting than the last one.

"Great timing as always Anko" Ibiki said as he pushed his way past the banner.

Anko sweat dropped for a second before going on like before "Wow Ibiki 26 teams? You've gotten soft"

"There are a lot of talented ones this year"

Naruto had to stifle a laugh; if these teams were 'talented' this was going to be a breeze.

"Well it's alright there won't be so many left after I'm through with them." She gave a small smile to the remaining genin, most of which looked unnerved by her. "Come on, follow me" she then leaped out the window she burst in though.

Naruto already like this one she was way more entertaining, hopefully her test was as well.

The teams arrived at the destination and waited for Anko to explain the test.

"How about that first test? I was hoping it would at least be interesting, oh well maybe this one will be better, the examiner is already a lot more fun."

"Of course you would think so Naruto, she's as crazy as you." Sakura teased

Naruto just shrugged "Crazy is more fun"

"All right everyone listen up!" Anko yelled "this is training ground 44 also known as the 'Forest of Death' and it is where the second of exam will take place. The second exam is the ultimate survival test. Training ground 44 has 44 gates around the perimeter, each team will start at one of the gates and have 120 hours (5 days) to retrieve these and the bring them to the tower in the center of the training ground." She pulled out two scrolls one with heaven written on it and the other with earth on it. "Each team will be given one scroll, half will get a heaven scroll and the other half will get an earth scroll. You are allowed to use any weapons and jutsu you can to retrieve the scrolls, there will be deaths in this one so you will have to fill out these" she pulled out a form. "Now you can be disqualified for several things, first, if you fail to bring both scrolls to the tower within the allotted time, second, if one of your teammates is lost or killed, and third, if you look inside your scrolls before you get to the tower. Also you can't quit in the middle so once it starts you are spending 5 days in the forest. Now exchange your three completed forms for a scroll and choose a gate, the exam starts in 30 minutes."

There was a myriad of complaints during the explanation but nothing especially important.

'_Finally a chance for some fun'_

'_**Yes but we need to get away from the others to truly relish it'**_

'_You're right; I'll come up with something'_

After filling out their forms and gathering their scrolls the teams gathered at their gates and waited for the exam to start.

Naruto bounced in place impatiently waiting for the exam to start.

"Naruto stop fidgeting, we should come up with a plan for the exam"

Naruto gave Sakura an annoyed look for half a second "I have a plan, you and Sasuke make your way to the tower and take out anyone on the way. I will find the scroll we need and meet you there."

"We should stay together, what if something goes wrong? Your might need backup."

"Oh come on Sakura you know I can easily take anyone in this exam"

"This is supposed to be a team exam maybe we should stick together." Sasuke interjected giving Sakura a proud smile

Naruto looked into Sasuke's eyes and made a pleading face "on the other hand Naruto did kill one of the seven swordsmen of the mist and his apprentice alone a bunch of genin can't hope to defeat her, it would be more efficient for us to just meet her at the tower."

Sakura's smile turned to a slight frown "Can I talk to you Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded and moved in closer "What is it?"

"You've seen Naruto she can't control herself when she's alone, if we let her go we might as well be sentencing the poor souls she runs into to death. What if it is some of our friends?"

"She wouldn't kill our friends they're her friends too."

"Well what about the other teams? How can we just let them die?"

"They knew what they were singing up for, people die in these exams you're just going to have to accept that." With that he turned around and walked back to Naruto who had watched the whole exchange with a small smile.

"I vote for Naruto's plan, you either come with me or try to follow Naruto, it's up to you Sakura."

Sakura glared at Naruto, of course Sasuke would side with her, he always does.

The chunin manning their gate looked to his watch before shoving the gate open "You can start now"

Naruto gave a small wave to Sakura and Sasuke "See you guys at the tower" and darted off before either could respond.

She went a few hundred yards before stopping on a massive tree limb "summoning jutsu" she called as she planted her hand on the bark.

"Hey Naruto, you called?"

"Hey kit" she patted the little fox on the head "I need you to find me some people to kill"

Kit wagged her tail "Sure thing"

The sand trio walked through the forest in a seemingly random direction.

"Do you have any idea where he is leading us?" Temari asked Kankuro under her breath

"How should I know?"

"Well ask him them"

"What? You do it; I'm not risking my skin for this"

"She's close" Gaara said to himself

"Hn she?" Temari and Kankuro both quietly asked each other

Gaara stopped and held up a hand causing his siblings to stop as well, not far away there was a group of rain genin huddled around each other talking amongst themselves.

Temari reached for her fan but Gaara held his hand in front of her telling her to stop.

'_He's close, he must be following me, I better give him a show'_

'_**Trying to impress my brother's vessel? Might it be you are interested in him?'**_

'_So what if I am, he is an interesting person'_

'_**Hahahaha there is no problem my child, it seems most fitting one such as him would attract you.'**_

'_Time for some fun'_

"Alright, everybody has their jobs, we will meet back here in two hours" The leader spoke eliciting a "right" from the other two genin.

"Hey, over here!"

The three genin spun and pulled out kunai searching for whoever had spoken but all they saw was a little fox staring at them with its head tilted. They started back for a moment before in spoke "behind you."

Before any of them had time to react one let out a gargled scream of pain, the other two spun to see none other than the demon of the leaf herself sinking her teeth into their teammate's throat.

Naruto tore her victim's jugular out and shoved the corpse to the side before she dug one of her claws into the abdomen of the closer of the two stunned genin. Once she had hold of hold of his intestine she ripped her claw out and kicked him hard in the chest launching him into a tree a dozen yards back, his intestines ripping out of him the whole way.

The remaining genin, the leader, having recovered from the initial shock turned tail and ran from the demon that just brutally massacred his teammates in a matter of seconds. He didn't make it more than a few feet before Naruto appeared in front of him with a sick smile on her bloody face.

Naruto held out her hand "The scroll"

The fear was so overwhelming he almost broke down into tears "Y-yes here take it just don't kill me please!" he pulled out the scroll and timidly put it into her outstretched hand.

Naruto accepted the scroll gazing at it for a second before turning her attention back on the whimpering genin. She let the terror sink in, soaking it up like nourishment. She waited just long enough so that she could see he was gaining hope he might actually make it through this ordeal before swiping with her claw and ripping his throat out. She relished every second of it, watching the hope leave his face as he fell to his knees gripping his throat before finally falling face first at her feet as the life drained out of him.

Naruto wore a big smile as she started sucking the blood off her fingers. She looked directly at the sand trio; Temari and Kankuro looked terrified by the gruesome display while Gaara was wearing his sick grin and shaking with excitement. Naruto gave them a sly grin before winking at Gaara and disappearing in a shunshin.

Temari and Kankuro looked to each other, this was bad she was even more gruesome than Gaara and she had just stirred him up into a frenzy, they needed to find someone for Gaara to kill before he killed them. Add to that Gaara seemed to have some sort of fixation on her, he had been staring at her all day and apparently led them here to watch her massacre those guys, this could easily turn out very badly.

Naruto walked up to the river bank and started washing the blood off her face _'Sakura would freak out if I showed up with blood all over my face. It's too bad they had the scroll we needed I was hoping to have some more fun, oh well.'_

'_**don't worry too much, there will be plenty more chances for fun'**_

'_Yeah you're right.'_

'_**Someone is approaching, and fast!'**_

Naruto turned and watched as a man landed a couple dozen feet away from her.

"That was quite the display"

"Yeah, too bad it happened so quickly, hardly any time relish it."

The man smiled and licked his lips "I like the way you think" he pulled off his giant straw had revealing the rest of his face.

_**Kurama growled 'Orochimaru'**_

"Oh my I must be special to warrant a visit from the infamous Orochimaru"

Orochimaru let out a laugh "So you know who I am, then you must know I could easily kill you"

Naruto let out a laugh of her own "Please every ninja in the village would be here before you could finish me off"

Orochimaru broadened his smile "Cocky, I like that, at least when you can back it up."

"What is it that you want?"

"Why nothing more than to make an offer, join me, we can do wondrous things together."

Naruto's face became more serious "I have my own plans."

"What has this village ever done for you? They scorn you and reject you, come with me they will learn to fear you, and you will be free to pursue any plans you might have with my full backing."

"They already fear me, and I don't need some washed up pedophile to achieve my goals."

His smile faded "Consider it, I'm sure Gaara would be pleased to have you aboard."

That peaked her interest but before she could respond he used some jutsu to melt into the ground and disappear.

'_**Don't trust that man Naruto'**_

Naruto let out a sigh _'Yeah I know Kurama'_ she finished washing up and proceeded to the tower.

"What's taking her so long, she should be here by now."

"You're the one that insisted she would be fine."

Sasuke glared at her "She is fine, don't say she isn't"

Sakura shook her head "Get a hold of yourself Sasuke I'm sure she'll be here any minute, you said it yourself nothing can take her down."

Sasuke nodded "Yeah you're right she's fine"

"Did you ever doubt it?" Naruto teased as she jumped to them from the tree line.

"Naruto! What took you so long?" Sasuke asked as he wrapped her in a quick hug

"I took the scenic root"

"Did you get the scrolls?" Sakura questioned

"Of course" she pulled out the scrolls "Shall we?" she said as she walked to the door.

They went through the door and proceeded through the steps on the wall until Iruka appeared out of the scrolls.

"Congratulations, you guys are the first to arrive."

"As always I'm the best." Naruto joked

"Don't get cocky now Naruto, you passed this exam in record time but you're not done yet."

"Yeah yeah don't celebrate early yadda yadda. Can't you turn off the teacher thing for a second?"

Iruka sighed "You'll never change Naruto."

The door opened behind them catching everyone's attention. The sand trio walked into the room "Look who's here, guess that means we're in the right place" Kankuro joked at Naruto

"Took you long enough" Naruto said with a grin as she stared at Gaara who stared back

"Do you guys know each other?" Sakura asked confused about the exchange

"We've met" Naruto answered never looking away from Gaara

Sasuke noticed how they were staring at each other "Let's go" He grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled her away into the tower. Naruto let him pull her away but kept her eyes on Gaara the whole way.

Sakura waved to Iruka before following them "It was nice seeing you Iruka sensei."


End file.
